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A  W  rison  i  Co,  Bo  SI  or: 


A  LOYAL  LIFE 


A  BIOGRAPHY  OF 
HENRY  LIVINGSTON  RICHARDS 

WITH 

SELECTIONS  FROM  HIS  LETTERS 

AND 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT 

IN  AMERICA 

BY 
JOSEPH  HAVENS  RICHARDS 

Priest  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 


st.  louis,  mo.,  1913 

Published  by  B.  Herder 

17  South  Broadway 


FREIBURG  (Baden) 
GERMANY 


LONDON,  W.  C. 
6^,.  QisKVi;  Russell  Str. 


niPRHII  POTEST 


Anthony  J.  Maas,  S.  J. 
Provincial 


NIHIL   OB  ST  AT 

Sti.  Ludovici,  die  11.   Aprilis,  1913 

F.   O.  Holweck, 
Censor  Librorum. 


IMPRIMATUR 

Sli.  Ludovici,  die  12.  Aprilis,  1913 

J,  Joannes  J.  Qlenncn, 
Archiepiscopus 
Sti.  Ludovici 


Copyright,  1913, 

by 

Joseph  Oummersbach 


— BECKTOLD— 

PRINTING  AND  BOOK  MFG.  CO. 
ST.  LOUIS,  Aip.     .       .  , 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

List  of  Authokities .       i 

Introduction iii 

I     Boyhood:    1814-1829 1 

II     First  Experience  of  College;   Kenyon  College 

AND    Bishop    Chase:     1829-1830 24  >  >** 

III  Early   Life  in   Ohio;    the  Village  Store;    the  ^ 

Temperance  Movement:    1830-1832    .      ...     36 

IV  College;    Graduation;    Engagement:    1832-1839     68 

V      BraiNNINGS   of   the   CaTHOLIC   MOVEMENT     ...       84 

VI     Seminary;    Ordination;    Marriage:    1839-1840   .   Ill 

VII     The  Ministry;  High  Churcu  Tendencies:   1840- 

1848 139 

VIII  Conversion:    1848-1852 195 

IX  Early  Catholic  Life 241 

X  New  Friendships  and  Labors 264 

XI  Boston:   1868-1878 302 

XII     Winchester;    Last   Illness   and   Death:    1878- 

1903 342 

Appendix.     Sermon  on  the  Organic  Nature  of 
Christianity 377 


BOOKS  CONSULTED  IN  THE  PREPARATION 
OF  THIS  WORK. 

The  History  of  Granville,  Licking  County,  Ohio.  By  Rev. 
Henry  Bushnell,  A.M.  Columbus,  Ohio,  Press  of  Hann 
and   Adair,   1889. 

The  Plan  of  Union,  or  a  History  of  the  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  Churches  of  the  Western  Reserve.  By 
WiUiara  S.  Kennedy,  Hudson,  Ohio,  Pentagon  Steam 
Press,    1856. 

The  Creeds  and  Platforms  of  Congregationalism.  By  Willis- 
ton  Walker,  Ph.D.     N.  Y.,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1893. 

The  Congregationalists.  Bv  Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon.  New 
York,  The  Baker  &  Taylor  Co.,   1904. 

A  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States.  By  Charles  C.  Tiffanj-,  D.D.  N.  Y.  The  Chris- 
tian Literature   Co.,   1895. 

Bishop  Chase's  Reminiscences.  2  vols.  Boston,  James  B, 
Dow,  1848. 

Life  of  Philander  Chase,  First  Bishop  of  Ohio  and  Illinois, 
Founder  of  Kenyon  and  Jubilee  Colleges.  By  his  grand- 
daughter, Laura' Chase  Smith.  New  York,  E.  P.  Dutton 
&  Co.,  1903. 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Peter.  By  Margaret  R. 
King.     2    vols.     Cincinnati,    Robert   Clark   &    Co.,    1889.  ^ 

The  Oxford  Movement  in  America,  or  Glimpses  of  Life  in 
an  Anglican  Seminary.  By  the  Rev.  Clarence  E.  Wal- 
worth.    New   York,   Catholic    Book    Exchange,    1895. 

The  Road  to  Rome,  and  How  Two  Brothers  Got  There.  By 
William   Richards.     New  York,   Benziger  Bros.,   1895. 

Orestes  A.  Brownson's  Early  Life,  from  1803  to  1844.  By 
Henry  F.  Brownson.  Detroit,  Michigan.  Henry  F. 
Brownson,  Publisher,  1898. 

Orestes  A.  Brownson's  Middle  Life,  from  1845  to  1855.  Ibid. 
1899. 

Life  of  Father  Hecker.  By  Rev.  Walter  Elliott,  C.S.P.  New 
York. 

History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  By 
John  Gilmary  Shea.  4  vols.  New  York,  John  G.  Shea, 
Publisher,    1890. 


ii  BOOKS  CONSULTED 

A  Genealogical  Register  of  the  Descendants  of  Several  Ancient 

Puritans.     Vol.   3    (The   Richards   Family).     By   the   Rev. 

Abner  Morse,  A.M.     Boston,  Press  of  H.  "W.  Button   & 

Son,    1861. 
A    Genealogical    Register   of   the    Felton    Family.    By   Cyrus 

Felton.     Marlborough,    Pratt    Brothers,    1886. 
The    Oxford    Movement.     By    R.    W.    Church,    M.A.,    D.C.L., 

Sometime  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  Fellow  of  Oriel  College, 

Oxford.     London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1900. 
Hurrell   Froude,   Memoranda   and    Appreciations.     By   Louise 

Imogen  Guiney.     N.  Y.,  E.   P.   Dutton  &   Co.,   1906. 
William  George  Ward  and  the  Oxford  Movement.     By  Wilfrid 

Ward.     London  and  New  York,  Macmillan  &  Co. 
William      George      Ward     and     the      Catholic      Revival.     By 

Wilfrid    Ward.     London.     Macmillan   &   Co.,    1893. 
The  Life  and  Times  of  Cardinal  Wiseman.     By  Wilfrid  Ward. 

2  vols.     London,  Longmans  Green  &  Co.,   1897. 
Memorials  of  Charles  Pettit  Mcllvaine,  Late  Bishop  of  Ohio. 

Rev.  William  Cams,  M.A.,  New  York,  Thomas  Whittaker, 

1882. 
The  Anglican  Revival.     J.  H.  Overton,  D.D.     London,  Blackie, 

1897. 
American  Catholic  Historical  Researches.     Martin  I.  J.  Griffin, 

Philadelphia. 
Catholics   in   the   American   Revolution.     Martin   I.   J.   Griffin. 

3  vols.     Philadclpliia,    Published   by   the    Author. 

The  Kenyon  Book.     Rev.  William  B.  Bodine,  D.D.,  President. 

Published  by   the  College. 
La  Renaissance  Catholique  en  Angleterre  au  XIX  siecle.     Par 

Paul   Thureau-Dangin.     Paris,    E.    Plon   et    Cie.     1899. 
"The    House,    When    It   Was    In    Building."     By    Rev.    John 

Hewett,  Columbus,  Ohio,  1903. 
Distinguished  Converts  to  Rome  in  America.     D.  J.  Scannell- 

O'Neill.     Benziger  Bros.,  New  York. 
The  History  of  New  London.     Frances  Mainwaring  Caulkins, 

New  London,  H.  D.  Utley,  1895. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  subject  of  the  following  biography  was 
not  a  man  of  world-wide,  nor  even,  in  any  com- 
plete sense,  of  national  reputation.  The  his- 
tory of  his  life  is,  therefore,  not  put  forth  in 
response  to  any  imperious  demand  or  general 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  public. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  hoped  that  such  a  work 
will  not  be  without  a  certain  measure  of  inter- 
est to  more  than  one  class  of  readers  in  the 
United  States,  and  possibly  beyond  the  limits 
of  our  country.  Mr.  Richards  filled  a  place  in 
the  public  eye  at  a  critical  period  in  the  reli- 
gious history  of  America.  He  was  a  factor, 
even  if  not  one  of  the  most  important,  in  that 
great  movement  of  return  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  formed  so  notable  a  feature  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

While  this  current  attained  its  greatest  vol- 
ume in  England  under  the  guidance  of  John 
Henry  Newman  and  his  associates,  it  did  not 
fail  to  make  its  presence  felt  simultaneously  in 
many  parts  of  the  world.  Wherever  the  Eng- 
lish language  was  read  and  spoken,  the  printed 
utterances    of   the   Oxford   Tractarians   could 

iii 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

not  fail  to  arouse  intense  interest  and  vehe- 
ment discussion.  In  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  of  America,  every  step  of  the  Cathol- 
icizing party  in  England  was  followed  closely 
by  disciples  as  ardent  as  any  to  be  found  in 
the  ancient  university  of  the  Mother  Country. 

Moreover  the  movement  in  America  was  not 
merely  an  imitation  and  a  following  in  the  foot- 
steps of  foreign  guides.  It  had  features  of  its 
own ;  and  its  leaders  worked  out  their  own  sal- 
vation in  ways,  which,  though  in  many  cases 
similar  to  the  methods  of  thought  and  argu- 
ment employed  by  their  brethren  in  England, 
were  yet  often  strongly  marked  with  their  own 
individual  and  national  characteristics.  Their 
paths,  though  in  the  main  parallel  and  leading 
to  the  same  goal,  were  by  no  means  identical, 
nor  even  in  all  cases  similar.  Hence  a  close 
study  of  the  soul-history  of  a  single  one  of  the 
protagonists  in  this  great  religious  struggle  can 
scarcely  fail  to  arouse  interest  and  furnish  in- 
struction. 

Moreover,  the  scene  of  Mr.  Richards'  career 
prior  to  his  conversion  lay  in  a  region  of  pecul- 
iar interest.  Ohio  was  then  still  the  West. 
It  had  been  in  his  youth  the  Far  West.  All 
the  energy  and  rude  vigor  characteristic  of  the 
region  and  the  time  were  fully  shared  by 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  body,  tempered  in  the 
latter  by  traditional  refinement  and  the  educa- 


INTRODUCTION  v 

tion  received  by  its  Divines  in  the  East  or 
abroad.  Of  the  early  Catholic  movement  in 
this  environment  no  adequate  account,  so  far  as 
the  writer  knows,  has  hitherto  been  given.  The 
Eev.  Clarence  A.  Walworth,  late  Pastor  of  St. 
Mary's  Church,  Albany,  published  in  1895  a 
most  important  and  admirable  history  of  the 
'' Oxford  Movement  in  America";  but  as  indi- 
cated in  the  sub-title,  ''Glimpses  of  Life  in  An 
Anglican  Seminary,"  the  scope  of  the  work  is 
to  some  extent  restricted,  and  it  deals  almost 
exclusively  with  New  York  and  the  Eastern 
States.  In  the  same  year  was  printed  under 
the  title  "The  Road  to  Rome,  and  How  Two 
Brothers  Got  There,"  the  substance  of  two  lec- 
tures delivered  by  Mr.  William  Richards  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  the  younger  brother  of  the 
subject  of  this  memoir.  This  document  is  also 
extremely  valuable,  especially  as  illustrating 
the  divergency  of  the  various  paths  leading  dis- 
similar minds  to  the  unchangeable  Unity  and 
Truth  of  the  Catholic  Church.  But  it  is  neces- 
sarily brief  and  is  even  more  strictly  personal 
in  its  reminiscences  than  Father  Walworth's 
book. 

After  Mr.  Henry  L.  Richards'  conversion 
and  removal  to  the  East,  his  earnest  activity 
in  all  Church  affairs  brought  him  into  frequent 
contact  w^ith  the  leaders  of  religious  thought 
and  work.    While  his  extraordinary  humility 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

and  spirit  of  lowly  self -depreciation  impelled 
him  always  to  keep  in  the  backgroimd  and  to 
consider  himself  unable  and  unworthy  to  as- 
sume any  leading  part,  yet  this  inclination  was 
frequently  counteracted  to  some  extent  by  his 
natural  ardor  of  character,  his  burning  zeal, 
and  his  love  of  God  and  the  Church,  for  all  of 
which  he  was  no  less  remarkable  than  for  his 
humility.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  con- 
verts from  Protestantism  were  reckoned  among 
his  personal  friends,  some  were  brought  into 
the  Church  by  his  efforts,  many  more  were  at 
least  cheered  and  encouraged  in  their  trials 
by  his  warm  friendship  or  sympathetic  letters. 
All  this  makes  his  life,  during  the  exceptionally 
long  period  over  which  it  extended,  a  com- 
pendium, so  to  speak,  of  Catholic  Church  his- 
tory in  the  United  States. 

Finally,  it  is  an  added  element  of  interest, 
impelling  to  the  publication  of  this  biography, 
that  Mr.  Richards,  always  remaining,  by  the 
necessity  of  his  position,  a  layman,  gave  from 
the  time  of  his  conversion  a  notable  example 
of  enthusiastic  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  an 
educated  layman  in  the  Church,  not  only  by  his 
intense  personal  piety  and  devotion,  but  also  in 
active  labors  for  the  good  of  souls  and  the  ex- 
tension of  the  true  religion.  In  the  Society  of 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  and  in  every  form  of  or- 
ganized charity,  in  the  teaching  and  superin- 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

tending  of  Sunday  schools,  in  public  lectures 
and  in  regular  editorial  contributions  to  the 
Catholic  press,  his  zeal  was  actively  employed. 

More  remarkable  than  all  these  perhaps  was 
his  personal  influence  in  private  life,  both  by 
word  and  example,  which,  joined  to  his  inde- 
fatigable zeal,  enabled  him  to  dissipate  many 
prejudices  and  attract  earnest  souls  like  him- 
self from  darkness  to  the  light  of  the  true 
Faith.  Such  laymen  are  as  important  to  the 
Church  in  modern  times  (perhaps  at  all  times) 
as  good  priests. 

A  word  remains  to  be  said  as  to  the  materials 
drawn  upon  in  preparing  this  life.  The  most 
important  document  is  a  manuscript  autobio- 
graphical sketch.  This  was  begun  by  Mr.  Rich- 
ards in  1874  in  consequence  of  the  repeated  and 
urgent  solicitations  of  the  present  writer,  sec- 
onded by  other  members  of  the  family.  It  is 
of  a  very  intimate  personal  character,  intended 
chiefly  to  give  to  his  children  the  interior  his- 
tory of  his  conversion  and  to  illustrate  the 
goodness  of  God  to  one  who,  in  his  lowliness 
of  self -appreciation,  considered  himself  one  of 
the  greatest  of  sinners.  To  print  in  full  for 
public  perusal  a  paper  of  this  kind  would  be 
manifestly  a  proceeding  of  at  least  doubtful 
propriety.  It  has  been  judged  best  to  make 
numerous  extracts  from  this  document  and  to 
incorporate  the  substance  of  the  remainder  in 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

the  text.  Unfortunately,  this  paper  does  not 
bring  the  narrative  beyond  the  year  mentioned 
as  the  date  of  its  inception. 

Mr.  Richards  left  a  considerable  number  of 
private  papers,  including  the  manuscripts  of 
most  of  his  lectures  and  lists  of  the  very  numer- 
ous articles  contributed  by  him  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  Review  of  Cambridge  and  the  Catholic 
Review  of  New  York ;  togetlier  with  a  few  let- 
ters, particularly  those  received  by  him  at  the 
period  of  his  conversion.  Of  letters  written  by 
Mr.  Richards  to  others,  a  vast  number  are  ex- 
tant, as  it  was  the  habit  of  many  of  his  corre- 
spondents to  preserve  carefully,  even  rever- 
entially, everything  received  from  him.  Only 
a  very  limited  use  of  this  mass  of  material  has 
been  feasible  in  the  present  work,  without  swell- 
ing the  dimensions  of  the  latter  beyond  due 
bounds. 

A  list  of  the  most  important  works  consulted 
will  be  found  on  a  preceding  page.  Perhaps 
the  most  valuable  source  of  all  has  been  the 
recollections  of  the  members  of  his  family  and 
his  intimate  friends  and  disciples.  The  great 
age  at  which  he  died  has  left  him  without  the 
testimony  of  contemporaries  of  his  youth  and 
middle  age,  almost  all  of  whom  he  outlived. 
But  enough  remains  to  give  a  vivid  impression 
of  his  natural  character,  wholesome,  cheery, 
zealous  and  thoroughly  loyal  to  man,  to  con- 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

science  and  to  God,  and  of  the  exalted  super- 
natural virtues  by  which  that  character  was 
gradually  chastened,  elevated  and  spiritualized, 
until  his  very  aspect  became  to  those  who  knew 
him  an  attraction  to  the  higher  life,  and  his 
every  word  and  action  a  commentary  on  the 
beauty  of  virtue. 

The  writer  desires  to  express  his  cordial 
thanks  to  the  Rev.  William  Foster  Pierce, 
L.H.D.,  President  of  Kenyon  College,  for  re- 
searches made  by  his  direction  in  the  archives 
of  the  College,  and  to  the  Rev.  John  Hewitt, 
present  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Columbus, 
Ohio,  for  similar  services  most  kindly  rendered. 
He  is  also  indebted  to  the  Very  Rev.  C.  Lecoq, 
S.S.,  D.D.,  President  of  St.  Mary's  Seminary  of 
Montreal,  to  the  Rev.  Benedict  Guldner,  S.J., 
Mrs.  A.  Newton  Wliiting  of  Columbus,  Ohio, 
Mr.  D.  J.  Scannell  O'Neil  and  many  other 
friends  for  information,  loan  of  letters  and  as- 
sistance of  various  kinds. 


A  LOYAL  LIFE 

CHAPTEK  I 

BOYHOOD 

1814-1829 

Henry  Livingston  Ricliarcls  was  born  on  tlie 
twenty-second  day  of  July,  1814,  in  the  little 
village  of  Granville,  Licking  County,  Ohio. 
He  was  the  oldest  of  four  children,  two  boys 
and  two  girls,  born  to  his  father,  Dr.  William 
Samuel  Eichards,  from  his  first  marriage,  all 
of  whom  lived  to  maturity  and  married.  A 
second  marriage  increased  the  family  by  three 
boys,  of  whom  one  died  in  childhood.  The  only 
one  of  all  these  who  followed  Henry  into  the 
Church  was  his  brother  William,  who  came  into 
the  world  some  five  years  later  than  the  first- 
born. 

Dr.  Eichards  was  sprung  from  the  early  Pil- 
grim and  Puritan  stock  of  Massachusetts. 
The  names  appears  frequently  in  the  earliest 
records  of  both  the  Pl^Tiiouth  and  the  Massa- 
chusetts  Bay   colonies.     No   less   than   twelve 

men  bearing  the  name  of  Eichards  came  from 

1 


2  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

England,  mostly,  it  would  seem,  from  Dorset- 
shire, in  the  first  days  of  New  England  col- 
onization, and  settled  in  various  places,  giving 
rise  to  as  many  different  branches  of  the  fam- 
ily. There  seems  to  have  been  a  strong  re- 
ligious tendency  in  the  family  character,  for 
among  those  who  inherited  it  are  found  many 
ministers. 

The  first  American  progenitor  of  the  subject 
of  this  work  was  John  Richards  of  Eele  River 
in  Plymouth,  Massachusetts.  He  is  first  men- 
tioned on  July  12th,  1637,  in  the  records  of  the 
General  Court  of  Plymouth,  which  put  him  un- 
der bonds  to  keep  the  peace,  especially  with  re- 
gard to  one  Mark  Mendall.  In  spite  of  this 
somewhat  questionable  introduction  to  the  light 
of  history,  John  Richards  seems  to  have  been 
a  very  respectable  citizen.  Removing  about 
1658  to  New  London,  Connecticut,  he  built  a 
house  at  the  comer  of  State  and  Huntington 
Streets  which  remained  the  seat  of  the  family 
for  more  than  a  centuiy,  and  became  quite  a 
center  of  what  social  life  existed  in  the  austere 
colonial  town.  But  all  the  consideration  he  en- 
joyed could  not  shield  his  family  from  the  Blue 
Laws,  for  in  1693  his  second  son,  Israel,  was 
sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  ten  shillings,  and  to 
stand  in  the  stock  for  two  hours,  as  a  penalty 
for  walking  abroad  and  otherwise  misbehaving 
himself  on  the   Sabbath  evening.    His  oldest 


BOYHOOD  3 

son,  also  named  John,  figures  in  the  military 
history  of  New  London.  He  was  a  lieutenant 
in  the  local  forces,  and  in  1711,  when  the  town 
was  menaced  by  French  privateers,  he  com- 
manded the  troops  who  kept  watch  of  the  coast 
and  harbor. 

But  the  chief  glory  of  the  family  from  a  mili- 
tary point  of  view  was  Colonel  William  Rich- 
ards, of  the  fourth  generation,  our  Henry's 
grandfather.  As  Captain  in  the  Revolutionary 
forces,  he  fought  with  distinction  at  Bunker 
Hill,  and  later,  during  the  British  occupation 
of  Long  Island,  New  York,  he  headed  a  for- 
lorn hope  at  night,  and  made  a  desperate  at- 
tack on  an  entrenched  body  of  the  British,  in 
which  daring  enterprise  he  was  comjjletely  suc- 
cessful. He  was  made  Colonel,  and  after  the 
close  of  the  war,  High  Sheriff  of  New  London, 
which  post  he  held  for  twenty-five  years,  dying 
in  1825.  His  sword  remains  as  an  heirloom 
in  the  family,  and  during  the  Civil  War  was 
in  the  possession  of  Captain  William  Richards 
Hillyer  of  the  Union  Army. 

In  Mr.  Richards '  manuscript  notes  of  his  life 
prepared  for  his  children,  he  discourses  at 
some  length  of  his  Puritan  ancestors,  for  whom 
his  respect  had  not  been  diminished,  but  if 
anything  increased,  by  his  secession  from  their 
faith  to  one  higher  and  more  ancient.  He 
says :    * '  I  remember  the  time  when  I  attached 


4  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

not  the  slightest  consequence  to  the  matter  of 
lineage  and  family  pedigree.  As  I  have  grown 
older,  I  have  changed  in  that  respect.  .  .  . 
That  there  were  some  things  in  our  good  old 
Puritan  ancestors  that  we  have  no  reason  to 
be  proud  of,  I  readih^  admit.  I  have  even  seen 
the  time,  when  I  looked  at  things  through 
Protestant  Episcopal  spectacles,  when  I  af- 
fected to  despise  the  Puritans.  The  Catholic 
standpoint,  being  the  very  center  of  all  truth, 
enables  me  to  judge  my  Puritan  ancestors  more 
justly,  and  to  give  them  credit  for  great  virtues, 
which  they  undoubtedly  inherited  from  their 
Catholic  ancestors,  or  rather  perhaps  derived 
from  the  remains  of  Catholic  principles  and 
Catholic  traditions  which  they  had  preserved, 
notwithstanding  their  apostasy  from  the  old 
Faith.  Their  honesty  and  truthfulness,  their 
directness  and  manly  independence  are  worthy 
of  imitation  by  all.  What  the  descendants  of 
the  Puritans  want  in  these  days  is  the  Old 
Faith.  Grafted  again  into  the  original  vine  of 
Christ's  Church,  with  all  its  aids  and  graces, 
its  authority,  its  fkedness  of  faith,  its  beauti- 
ful models  of  sanctity  and  wonderful  incentives 
to  virtue,  I  really  think  they  would  make  a 
nation  of  saints." 

Of  the  seven  children  of  the  Eevolutionary 
hero,  the  oldest,  William  Samuel,  was  brought 
up  as  a  boy  on  his  father's  farm.     His  early 


BOYHOOD  5 

education  was,  no  doubt,  received  at  the  New 
London  Latin  School,  of  which  his  grand- 
father, John,  had  been  one  of  the  earliest  trus- 
tees. He  afterward  studied  medicine,  and, 
having  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  years, 
and  being  qualified  to  practice,  he  set  his  face 
toward  the  great  West  to  begin  his  profes- 
sional career  amid  new  surroundings.  It  may 
be  well  here  to  endeavor  to  gain  some  idea  of 
these  surroundings  and  of  the  state  of  that 
new  yet  not  altogether  crude  society  of  which 
he  and  his  future  family  were  to  form  a  part. 

At  that  period,  when  Europe  was  busy,  with 
allied  armies  and  combined  statecraft,  in  re- 
pressing the  schemes  of  the  still  formidable 
Napoleon  to  resuscitate  his  empire,  a  vaster 
and  richer  empire  was  peacefully  but  rapidly 
growing  up  on  the  western  continent.  The 
American  Colonies,  having  succeeded  in  shak- 
ing off  the  yoke  of  Great  Britain,  and  estab- 
lishing a  Eepublic  of  Confederated  States, 
offering  freedom  and  land  to  all  comers,  had  be- 
gun to  attract  that  unexampled  tide  of  immigra- 
tion which  later  became  one  of  the  wonders  of 
historv,  and  which  continues,  in  undiminished 
volume  but  with  varying  components,  in  our 
own  day. 

While  much  of  this  inflowing  current  re- 
mained stagnated  in  the  cities  and  towns  of 
the  eastern  seaboard,  much  also  found  its  way. 


6  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

either  immediately  or  by  degrees,  to  the  forests 
and  plains  of  the  still  imdeveloped  West. 

Another  feature  of  this  western  colonizing 
movement,  more  important,  perhaps,  than  even 
the  foreign  immigration,  was  found  in  the  rest- 
less energy  and  ambition  of  the  descendants 
of  the  eastern  settlers,  notably  in  New  England. 
The  same  spirit  of  sturdy  independence  that 
brought  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  to  the  New 
World  urged  their  sons  to  penetrate  still  fur- 
ther into  its  wilds  and  fastnesses.  They  were 
no  passive,  stay-at-home  race.  Moreover,  to 
the  rural  population,  conditions  of  soil  and  cli- 
mate in  New  England  made  of  life  a  hard  and 
wearisome  struggle.  To  their  ears  the  stories 
brought  by  explorers  and  returning  settlers  of 
level  and  fertile  lands,  free  from  rocks,  stones 
and  gravel,  of  mild  winters  and  fruitful 
harvests,  all  to  be  had  almost  without  money 
and  without  price,  must  have  sounded  like  the 
Biblical  account  with  which  they  were  so  fa- 
miliar, of  a  promised  land  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey.  Hence,  for  some  years  before  the 
time  of  which  we  write,  a  great  stream  of  im- 
migration of  native  American  pioneers  had  been 
flowing  steadily  into  the  western  and  north- 
western territories  adjacent  to  the  more  thickly 
settled  regions  of  the  original  colonies.  They 
pushed  back  the  Indian  tribes  to  new  seats, 
at   times   ruthlessly   exterminating   the   bands 


BOYHOOD  7 

that  opposed  their  progress;  they  felled  the 
forests,  cleared  the  land,  opened  up  roads,  and 
founded  villages  which  in  many  cases  grew 
with  amazing  rapidity  into  towns  and  cities. 
As  early  as  the  year  1788,  the  columns  of 
organized  emigration  had  crossed  the  Ohio 
Eiver.  In  that  year  was  made,  at  Marietta, 
on  the  northerly  bank  of  the  great  waterway 
where  it  is  joined  by  the  Musking-um,  the  first 
permanent  settlement  in  what  is  now  the  State 
of  Ohio.  Then  it  was  a  part  of  the  great 
Northwestern  Territory,  constituted  by  Con- 
gress only  a  year  before  by  the  famous  ordi- 
nance in  which  slavery  was  forever  excluded 
from  the  region.  This  settlement  was  carried 
out  by  the  Ohio  Land  Company,  an  association 
formed  in  Boston,  which  had  purchased  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half  of  acres  on  the  Ohio  and  in 
the  Muskingum  valley,  between  the  last  named 
stream  and  the  Scioto.  To  the  influence  of  this 
great  company  is  generally  attributed,  in  great 
part,  the  drafting  and  enactment  of  the  Con- 
gressional ordinance.  But  the  colonization  was 
greatly  retarded  by  frequently  recurring 
strifes  with  the  Indian  tribes,  provoked  most 
commonly,  no  doubt,  by  the  rapacity  and  ex- 
cesses of  the  white  settlers  themselves,  until, 
in  1794,  the  complete  victory  of  General  Wayne, 
''Mad  Anthony,"  over  the  confederated  tribes 
at  Maumee  Rapids  broke  the  spirit  of  the  red- 


8  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

men,  and  resulted  in  tlie  treaty  of  Greenville. 
By  this  convention  the  Indians  were  limited  to 
a  reservation  lying  to  the  northward  of  the 
Greenville  Treaty  Line,  which,  extending  from 
east  to  west,  divided  the  state  into  two  unequal 
portions.  To  the  southern  and  larger  division, 
immigration  then  poured  in  unchecked.  One 
great  stream  crossed  the  Ohio  near  Wheeling, 
and  thence  rolled  westward,  meeting  the  Ohio 
Company's  settlements,  which  were  rapidly  ex- 
tending northward  and  westward  from  Mari- 
etta among  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the 
Muskingum,  and  coalescing  with  other  similar 
currents  from  the  south  and  southwest. 

One  quite  typical  instance  of  the  hardy 
energy  of  New  England  agricultural  settlers 
of  the  period  was  the  settlement  of  the  little 
village  of  Granville,  Ohio.  It  lies  near  the 
center  of  the  state,  twenty-eight  miles  E.  N.  E. 
of  Columbus  and  some  few  miles  west  of 
Newark,  the  county  seat  of  Licking  County. 
Up  to  the  year  1805,  it  was  an  unbroken  forest, 
traversed  by  wandering  bands  of  Indians  and 
by  the  bears,  wolves  and  deer  which  together 
with  smaller  game  roamed  its  thickets  and 
glades  in  abundance,  and  haunted  by  number- 
less flocks  of  wild  turkeys.  Even  at  the  time 
of  Mr.  Eichards'  birth,  nine  years  later,  it  was 
a  backwoods  settlement  of  rude  surroundings 
and    primitive    conditions,    yet    with    smiling 


BOYHOOD  9 

farms  that  attested  as  well  the  remarkable  fer- 
tility of  the  soil  as  the  thrift  of  its  inhabitants. 
The  first  settlement  was  effected  by  a  company 
of  emigrants  from  Granville,  Massachusetts, 
and  the  adjoining  township  of  Granby  in  Con- 
necticut. 

Some  details  of  the  history  of  this  settlement 
may  be  of  interest  here,  not  only  as  illustrating 
the  influences  surrounding  Mr.  Richards'  early 
years,  but  as  affording  a  vivid  picture  of  events 
and  conditions  that  were  repeated  many  times 
and  in  numberless  places,  with  some  varia- 
tion of  circumstances,  during  that  formative 
period. 

The  motives  of  the  emigration,  so  far  as  any 
are  needed  beyond  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
restless  vigor  native  to  the  New  England  char- 
acter, may  be  summed  up  in  the  desire  for  more 
fertile  land  and  a  milder  climate.  The  former 
is  illustrated  by  a  story  told  of  Alfred  Avery, 
one  of  the  original  settlers,  afterward  con- 
nected by  marriage  with  the  family  of  Mr. 
Richards.  ''When  he  was  a  mere  child  (in 
Massachusetts),"  we  are  told  in  the  History 
of  Granville  by  the  Eev.  Henry  Bushnell,  "his 
father  went  out  to  plant  corn,  and  (Alfred) 
himself,  ambitious  to  help,  took  his  hoe  and 
went  out  also,  tugging  and  sweating  to  do  what 
a  little  boy  could.  At  length  his  father  noticed 
that  Alfred  was  crying,  and  asked  him  what  was 


10  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

the  matter.  The  child's  reply  was  a  turning 
point  in  the  history  of  the  family:  *I  can't 
get  dirt  enough  to  cover  the  corn.'  Then  the 
father  thought  it  was  time  to  go  where  the  world 
had  more  dirt.  Soon  afterward  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Licking  Company." 

Another  source  of  the  migratory  spirit  which 
seems  not  to  have  attracted  so  much  attention  as 
it  would  deserve,  is  that  New  England  families 
at  that  period  were  uniformly  large,  and  con- 
tinued so  to  a  comparatively  recent  period. 
Genealogical  tables  reveal  the  fact  that  the 
numl)er  of  children  varied  from  five  or  six  to 
twelve,  thirteen  and  even  higher  figures,  and 
this  numerous  offspring  had  to  be  provided 
for. 

A  company  was  organized  among  the  far- 
mers with  regular  articles  of  incorporation, 
known,  after  some  changes  of  name,  as  the 
Licking  Land  Company,  and  Levi  Buttles  was 
made  President.  This  organization  suffered  at 
first  to  some  extent  from  the  perfidy  of  land 
speculators,  who  abounded  at  the  period;  but 
finally  it  secured  some  twenty-nine  thousand 
acres  of  excellent  land  at  the  average  price  of 
one  dollar  and  sixty-seven  cents  an  acre.  The 
number  of  families  taking  part  in  the  actual 
colonization  was  about  one  hundred.  They  set 
out  in  successive  parties,  during  the  autumn 
of  1805,  and  traveled  the  seven  hundred  miles, 


BOYHOOD  11 

in  great  part  through  a  wild  country,  in  wagons 
drawn  by  oxen. 

A  feature  of  the  emigration  which  is  well 
worth  noting  is  the  strong  devotion  shown  by 
the  colonists  to  the  allied  interests  of  religion 
and  education.  Most  of  the  farmers  professed 
the  Congregational  form  of  Calvinism,  which 
had  been  established  by  law  in  both  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  Plymouth  colonies,  and 
which  even  at  the  present  day  is  commonly 
known  throughout  the  state  as  the  Orthodox 
Religion.  Before  leaving  their  Massachusetts 
homes,  they  organized  themselves  into  a  sepa- 
rate church,  though  only  twenty-five  persons 
were  formally  admitted  as  members.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  chief  party  in  the  depth  of  the 
forest  which  was  to  be  their  future  home,  their 
first  act,  after  loosing  the  oxen  from  their 
yokes,  was  to  assemble  for  divine  worship  and 
to  listen  to  a  sermon.  They  then  established 
a  little  camp  between  two  enormous  trees  that 
they  had  felled,  and  set  to  work  to  subdue  the 
forest. 

The  log  schoolhouse  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  building  erected  for  the  ser^dce  of  the 
community  in  general,  being  used  also  on  Sun- 
days for  religious  services.  Although  the 
main  body  of  the  settlers  did  not  arrive  before 
November,  and  had  to  face  the  speedy  coming 
of  winter,  yet  their  first  thought  was  not  for 


12  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

the  comforts  and  conveniences  necessary  for 
existence,  but  for  the  establishment  of  school 
and  meeting  house. 

Zeal  for  education  and  what  we  should  now 
call  general  culture  was  evidenced  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee,  even  before  the  de- 
parture from  their  homes,  "to  receive  sub- 
scriptions for  the  encouragement  of  a  library, 
and  to  draw  up  and  form  a  constitution  for 
the  said  Library  Company."  This  plan  was 
faithfully  carried  out,  a  charter  was  obtained 
early  in  1807,  and  books  were  purchased  and 
put  in  use  the  same  year.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  know  how  many  pul)lic  libraries  were 
in  existence  at  that  early  period. 

Such  facts  throw  a  strong  light  on  the  char- 
acter of  these  sturdy  pioneers  and  give  the 
key,  no  doubt,  to  much  of  their  subsequent  his- 
tory. 

When  the  little  settlement  had  progressed 
somewhat  and  the  colonists  had  made  clearings 
in  the  thick  forest,  erected  log  cabins  and  sown 
their  first  crops,  they  found  it  necessary  to 
make  a  regulation  obliging  every  inhabitant  to 
spend  at  least  one  day  every  week  in  hunting 
snakes.  The  reptiles  killed  were  gathered  into 
heaps  and  burned.  "Wolves  and  bears  were  so 
close  neighbors  that  it  was  felt  to  be  dangerous 
to  wander  from  home  at  night,  and  occasionally 
roaming  bands  of  Indians  looked  in  upon  the 


BOYHOOD  13 

busy  settlers,  but  always  with  peaceful  inten- 
tions. 

Into  this  little  world  of  primitive  conditions, 
plain  living  and  high  thoughts  came  the  young 
Dr.  Eichards  on  Friday,  July  19,  1811.  He 
had  traveled  the  whole  distance  from  his  home 
in  New  London  on  horseback,  coming  by  way 
of  Marietta.  On  December  16th,  Dr.  Richards 
began  to  teach  school  in  the  house  of  Elias  Gil- 
man,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  indeed  the  head 
of  the  first  party  of  emigrants  to  arrive  upon 
the  ground.  But  this  occupation  was  given 
over  by  the  next  spring  or  summer,  no  doubt 
in  consequence  of  the  growth  of  his  medical 
practice;  and  some  time  later,  after  his  mar- 
riage. Dr.  Richards  erected  for  himself  a  house, 
almost  in  the  center  of  the  village.  From  that 
time  to  the  end  of  his  life  in  1852,  Dr.  Richards 
was  the  beloved  physician  of  the  whole  country 
for  many  miles  about  Granville,  universally  re- 
spected for  his  sterling  character,  and  loved 
for  his  untiring,  unselfish  care  of  the  poor  and 
his  even  too  great  leniency  toward  his  debt- 
ors. 

In  the  year  1813,  the  young  physician  mar- 
ried Isabella  Mower,  oldest  daughter  of  Samuel 
Parish  Mower  and  Jane  Felton.  Mr.  Mower 
had  moved  from  Barre,  Massachusetts,  to  the 
outskirts  of  Granville,  where  he  owned  a  large 
farm.     His  wife,  Jane  Felton,  was  the  daughter 


14  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

of  Captain  Benjamin  Felton,  of  Brookfield, 
Massacliusetts.  This  noted  man  served  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War  of  1756,  and  afterward 
in  the  Eevohition,  taking  part  in  the  battles  of 
Bunker  Hill,  Long  Island,  White  Plains,  Tren- 
ton, Monmouth,  etc.  After  this  war,  he  was 
made  Captain  of  Militia,  and  commanded  a 
body  of  cavaliy  in  the  putting  down  of  Shays 's 
Insurrection  in  Massachusetts  in  the  winter  of 
1786.  He  died  in  1820,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
one,  after  rearing  a  family  of  thirteen  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  lived  to  be  married. 

Mr.  Richards  was  thus  of  sound  Revolution- 
ary ancestry  on  his  mother's  side,  as  well  as 
his  father's.  But  what  caused  him  perhaps 
quite  as  much  satisfaction  as  this  distinction, 
after  he  became  a  Catholic,  was  that  a  marked 
strain  of  Irish  blood  seemed  to  come  to  him 
from  the  same  source.  The  name  Mower  is, 
very  prol)ably,  a  modification  of  Moore,  and 
the  tradition  of  the  family  pointed  to  an  Irish 
origin.  Moreover,  the  name  of  Benjamin  Fel- 
ton's  wife,  Jennie  Dorrity,  would  seem  to  point 
with  equal  probability  to  the  Green  Isle.  He 
entertained  a  hearty  admiration  for  several 
traits  of  character  found  in  the  Irish  race,  par- 
ticularly their  strong  faith  and  unconquerable 
loyalty  to  the  Church;  and  he  jDleased  himself 
with  the  conjecture  that  his  own  return  to  the 
religion  of  his  fathers  was  the  effect  in  part 


BOYHOOD  15 

of  liis  Irisli  blood,  coming  to  the  surface  after 
many  generations. 

Henry's  mother  was  a  capable  and  industri- 
ous woman,  with  a  strongly  religious  bent  of 
mind.  The  only  relic  of  her  in  existence,  a 
fragment  of  a  letter,  is  entirely  taken  up  with 
religious  considerations  and  news  of  revivals 
and  conversions.  Though  couched  in  the 
phraseology  of  the  Calvinistic  system  in  which 
she  was  educated,  which  now  appears  to  us 
stilted  and  unnatural,  it  reveals  vigor  of  mind 
and  depth  of  sincere  religious  feeling.  It  con- 
cludes :  ' '  My  husband  and  all  his  family  have 
been  prof  est  Christians  this  ten  years,  and  oh ! 
that  I  were  a  Christian  indeed  and  that  this 
stony  heart  of  mine  was  transformed  into  flesh 
that  I  might  be  susceptible  of  ardent  love  to 
the  immaculate  Savior."  Mrs.  Richards  died 
in  1821  at  the  age  of  thirty,  after  the  birth  of 
her  fourth  child,  Isabella,  Henry  being  then 
seven  years  old.  Her  place  was  taken  after  an 
interval  of  two  years  by  a  second  wife,  who 
proved  to  be  an  excellent  mother  to  her  step- 
children. 

Henry  was  born  in  the  house  of  *' Gaffer'* 
Gilman,  hard  by  the  old  town  spring.  In  later 
years,  "  'Grandma  Gilman'  used  to  amuse  us," 
he  writes,  "with  wonderful  stories  of  her  fav- 
orite child.  She  insisted  that  I  was  the  smart- 
est  child   she   had   ever   seen.    Among   other 


16  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

things,  she  said  I  used  to  pound  up  brick  to  a 
powder,  do  it  up  in  doses,  and  start  off  on  an 
imaginary  visit  to  the  sick. 

"I  began  to  go  to  school  when  I  was  very 
small.  I  have  a  dim  recollection  of  wading 
through  the  snow  when  my  little  legs  were 
scarcely  long  enough  to  measure  its  depth.  As 
I  advanced  in  years,  I  fear  I  did  not  increase 
in  industry  or  wisdom.  I  remember  being 
punished  once  fearfully  by  'Paddy  McMillan,' 
who  had  been  employed  to  teach  the  public 
school.  He  was  a  Reverend.  I  fear  I  must 
have  tried  his  patience,  for  liis  Irish  blood  rose 
to  fever  heat,  and  he  used  up  a  good-sized 
switch  upon  my  back.  I  remember  when  about 
ten  or  twelve  years  old,  having  a  contest  in 
writing  with  a  boy  about  my  own  age,  'Vet'  Ly- 
man, for  a  premium.  We  both  worked  hard, 
and  the  result  was  a  tie.  We  each  had  our 
backers.  I  do  not  think  my  competitor  bore 
his  disappointment  well, — and  one  day  we 
somehow  came  into  collision  on  the  streets  and 
had  a  regular  pitched  battle.  I  fought  like 
a  tiger,  crying  all  the  time.  It  was  a  drawn 
battle.  I  was  never  pugnaciously  inclined, 
and  I  do  not  think  I  could  have  been  drawn  or 
even  goaded  into  a  fight  without  being  imposed 
upon  or  treated  unjustly  in  some  way. 

''Now  I  must  confess  that  I  was  not  entirely 
truthful    during  my   boyhood's   days.     I   was 


BOYHOOD  17 

thoughtless,  fond  of  fun,  extremely  enterpris- 
ing, and  easily  influenced  by  bad  companions. 
I  would  sometimes  play  truant  and  tell  a  lie 
to  excuse  mvself  when  I  went  home.  But  some- 
how  my  sin  would  almost  always  find  me  out, 
and  then.  Ah  me !  what  punishment  would  fol- 
low. The  scene  is  vividly  before  my  mind's 
eye  to-day.  The  old  parlor,  with  closed  door 
and  blinds  drawn,  the  very  chair  I  sat  in  while 
my  venerable  father,  with  grave  and  sorrow- 
ful face,  expostulated  with  me  and  tried  to  show 
me  the  heinousness  of  my  sin,  and  to  lead  me 
to  repentance  and  amendment.  '  I  am  sorry,  my 
son,  that  you  have  been  guilty  of  this  fault. 
You  were  guilty  of  an  act  of  disobedience,  and 
then  committed  another  sin  to  hide  it.  It 
pains  me  to  have  to  punish  you,  but  it  must  be 
done.  He  that  spareth  the  rod,  hateth  the 
child.'  Then  he  took  me  bv  the  collar  with 
firm  grip  and  applied  the  birch  vigorously  to  my 
nether  extremities,  while  I  commenced  a  series 
of  gyrations,  keeping  time  meanwhile  at  the 
top  of  my  voice  with  the  measured  stroke  of 
the  baton.  How  hard  it  is  to  beat  sin  out  of 
a  child!  But  it  seems  to  be  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed way  for  expelling  the  devil ;  and  I  fear 
the  multiplied  cases  of  'possession'  in  our  time 
and  day  are  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  gen- 
eral disuse  of  the  wholesome  Scriptural  mode 
of  exorcism. 


18  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

''After  the  death  of  my  own  mother,  when 
I  was  seven  years  old,  my  father  married  Miss 
Tryphena  Bushuell,  the  youngest  of  a  family 
of  five,  two  brothers  and  three  sisters,  origi- 
nally from  Norwich,  Connecticut,  all  remarkable 
for  the  excellence  of  their  character  and  es- 
pecially for  their  strict  adherence  to  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  fathers.  The  two  brothers  were 
deacons  in  the  Congregational  Church  and  had 
the  reputation  of  saints.  My  stepmother  was 
intelligent,  refined  and  very  pious.  She  was 
just,  too,  and  kind  to  us  children,  and  proved 
an  exception  to  the  alleged  rule  of  stepmothers. 
She  was  a  good  mother  to  us  and  made  no  dis- 
tinction between  us  and  our  half-brothers. 
She,  of  course,  had  the  principal  care  of  our 
domestic  education,  and  she  strove  to  discharge 
her  duty  with  conscientious  fidelity." 

This  would  seem  to  be  the  best  place  to  inter- 
polate into  Mr.  Eichards'  narrative  the  names 
of  his  brothers  and  sisters.  The  second  child, 
Mary  Ann,  was  born  two  years  after  Henry, 
in  1816.  AVilliam,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  much 
in  the  course  of  this  biography,  saw  the  light 
in  1819,  and  Isabella  in  1821.  By  his  second 
wife.  Dr.  Eichards  had  three  children,  Peter, 
George  and  Ebenezer,  of  whom  the  last  named 
died  at  the  age  of  six  years,  while  Peter  still 
lives  at  the  writing  of  this  account,  the  sole 
survivor  of  the  family  of  seven.    All  the  chil- 


BOYHOOD  19 

dren  were  united  in  the  closest  bonds  of  affec- 
tion. Isabella  in  particular  seems  to  have 
been  cherished  with  exceptional  tenderness  by 
her  oldest  brother,  Henry,  and  all  the  other 
members  of  the  family, 

Mr.  Eichards  goes  on  to  describe  the  educa- 
tion to  which  this  double  but  united  family  of 
children  was  subjected.  ^' There  were  some  pe- 
culiarities of  that  education  which  are  now  fast 
passing  away  among  the  descendants  of  the 
Puritans,  but  which  were  curious  and  interest- 
ing. How  different  the  habits  of  those  times 
from  the  luxurious  customs  of  later  days! 
Then  we  went  to  meeting  in  an  old  frame  meet- 
ing house,  with  high-backed  square  pews,  and 
without  any  fire.  To  keep  from  freezing  in 
the  extremely  cold  winter  weather,  the  ladies 
took  'foot  stoves'  to  church.  These  were 
square  tin  boxes  with  wooden  frames  and 
perforated  with  small  holes  through  which  the 
welcome  heat  from  the  hot  coals  within  escaped 
under  the  enveloping  drapery  of  the  ladies, 
diffusing  a  genial,  albeit  a  somewhat  selfish  and 
exclusive  warmth  over  the  whole  person.  Ah ! 
if  we  children  could  but  get  the  loan  of  the 
thing  for  a  few  moments,  how  happy  we  were ! 
And  when  meeting  was  out,  how  we  did 
scamper  home  to  the  great  fire  in  the  fireplace, 
made  with  backlog,  forestick  and  middle  sticks, 
piled  high  in  the  chimney! 


20  'A  LOYAL  LIFE 

"The  'Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism'  was, 
next  to  the  Bible,  the  textbook  of  our  instruc- 
tion— 'What  is  the  chief  end  of  man?'  and  so 
on.  That  same  catechism  is  a  wonderful  pro- 
duction. It  must  be  confessed  it  was  rather 
long  for  a  'Shorter'  catechism,  and  its  theo- 
logical depths  are  rather  beyond  the  plummets 
of  most  young  persons.  There  are  many  excel- 
lent things  in  it,  but  it  is  of  course  marred  by 
the  strong  infusion  of  Calvinism.  It  was 
heavy  work  for  us  children,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  relief  with  which  the  end  of  our  les- 
sons was  reached,  and  the  joy  with  which  we 
closed  our  books  and  bounded  away  to  our 
play.  My  father  also  had  Bible  lessons  on 
Sunday  evenings,  before  the  sun  went  down,  in 
which  we  read  considerable  portions  of  Holy 
Scripture,  and  were  asked  questions  and  re- 
ceived explanations  of  what  we  read.  We  were 
encouraged  to  read  the  Bible  through  in  course 
by  the  time  we  were  fourteen  years  old,  when 
we  each  received  a  copy  of  a  pocket  Bible  in 
reward  for  our  industry.  The  encouragement 
for  us  children  to  read  the  Bible  through  was 
no  doubt  injudicious,  but  I  have  always  been 
thankful  that  my  mind  was  so  well  stored  and 
so  thoroughly  familiarized  with  Holy  Scripture, 
especially  the  New  Testament.  In  that  respect 
it  might  be  said  of  us  children  as  of  Timothv, 
that  from  childhood  we  had  known  the  Holy 


BOYHOOD  21 

Scriptures  which  were  able  to  make  us  wise 
unto  salvation.     I  am  afraid  however  that  in 
the  thoughtlessness  of  youth,  even  the   Bible 
lessons  were  not  relished  as  they  should  have 
been;  for  I  remember  well  with  what  longing 
eyes  we  watched  the  slowly  declining  sun.     You 
must  know  that  our  good  stepmother  was  a 
strict  observer  of  that  curious  old  custom  of 
the  Puritans  which  commenced  the  'Sabbath' 
on  the  Saturday  at  the  going  down  of  the  sun 
and  closed  it  at  the  same  point  on  the  day  it- 
self.    Saturday  evening  at  sundown  all  work 
was  laid  aside,  even  to  the  sewing  and  the  in- 
evitable knitting  work.     The  joy  with  which, 
on  the  succeeding  clay,  we  young  folks,  who  had 
been  reined  in  and  restrained  from  every,  even 
the  least,  appearance  of  play,  and  kept  diligently 
at  work  with  our  Bibles,  Catechisms  and  re- 
ligious duties,  watched  the  decline  of  the  king 
of  day,  was  an  indication  that  at  that  hour  the 
sacred   time   had   passed   and   we   were    free. 
Then  the  knitting  work  was  resumed,  the  wash 
tubs  were  brought  out  and  preparations  com- 
menced for  the  hebdomadal  cleansing,  and  all 
things  indicated  that  the  'Sabbath,'  with  its 
gloomy  strictness,  its  prim  propriety  and  its 
forced  reserve,  had  passed.     I  have  a  distinct 
remembrance  of  having  been  chided  for  look- 
ing out  of  the  window  on  the  Sabbath,  when  a 
wagon     was     passing     by.     'Henry!     Henry! 


22  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

my  child!  I  am  surprised  to  see  you  looking 
out  of  the  window  on  the  Sabbath,  allowing 
your  mind  to  be  diverted  by  every  noise,  in- 
stead of  looking  on  your  book  and  studying 
your  lesson  in  the  catechism!'  Oh,  if  those 
good  souls,  with  all  their  strfctness  and  zeal, 
and  especially  their  faithfulness  in  instructing 
their  children,  had  only  had  the  true  Catholic 
faith  and  the  benefit  of  the  grace  of  the  sacra- 
ments of  Holy  Church,  what  saints  many  of 
them  would  have  been!" 

Mr.  Richards'  account  of  his  early  youth 
and  domestic  education  may  be  said  to  end  here. 
There  are  in  his  manuscript  allusions  to  a 
period  spent  with  his  grandfather  on  the  farm, 
which  was  no  doubt  a  very  happy  phase  of  his 
boyhood,  and  which  certainly  left  in  him  a 
permanent  love  for  the  country  and  a  desire, 
to  which  he  perpetually  recurred  throughout 
his  professional  and  mercantile  life,  to  spend 
his  leisure  hours  in  the  rural  delights  of  farm- 
ing or  horticulture.  The  boy  was  now  to  be- 
gin studies  of  a  somewhat  less  elementary 
nature  than  those  afforded  by  the  country  dis- 
trict school,  and  was  soon  to  engage  in  those 
mental  conflicts  and  moral  decisions  which  pre- 
sent themselves  imperiously  to  every  develop- 
ing human  soul,  and  which,  according  to  the 
answer  made  and  the  victory  gained  or  lost, 
mold  one's  character  and  settle,  with  virtual 


BOYHOOD  23 

certainty,  one's  future  line  of  conduct  for  good 
or  evil.  It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  with  a 
character  like  that  of  Henry  Livingston  Eich- 
ards,  the  stern  Calvinistic  home  training  was 
in  many  respects  an  excellent  preparation  for 
the  trials  that  awaited  him.  The  system,  if 
it  did  not  crush  or  permanently  sour  the  youth- 
ful character,  or  drive  it  into  hypocrisy,  would 
no  doubt  tend  to  impart  to  it  a  firm  sense  of 
duty  and  a  determination  to  prefer  the  right 
to  the  pleasant  or  profitable  under  all  circum- 
stances. This  was  its  effect  certainly  in  Mr. 
Eichards'  case.  He  was  naturally  very  docile, 
conscientious,  high-minded  and  thoroughly  un- 
selfish, but  ardent  and  sympathetic,  and  there- 
fore perhaps  inclined  to  follow  where  others 
led.  This  weaker  trait,  if  it  existed,  was  thor- 
oughly corrected  by  the  strictness  of  his  home 
training,  mingled  as  this  was  with  the  tender 
affection  of  his  excellent  parents  and  thus  re- 
lieved of  much  of  its  harshness. 


CHAPTER  II 

FIRST     EXPEEIENCE     OF      COLLEGE     LIFE.       KENYON 
COLLEGE    AND    BISHOP    CHASE 

1829—1830 

It  "^as  in  the  year  1829,  when  he  was  between 
fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age,  that  Henry 
L.  Richards  entered  college  for  the  first  time. 
One  of  his  uncles  on  his  mother's  side,  Lucius 
D.  Mower,  was  the  most  prosperous  merchant 
in  the  little  village.  Having  no  children  of  his 
own,  he  had  taken  Henry's  younger  brother, 
"William,  with  the  intention  of  providing  for 
him  and  bringing  him  up  as  his  own  son.  lie 
now  proposed  that  Henry  also  should  enter  his 
store  as  a  clerk.  But  Dr.  Richards  was  anx- 
ious that  all  of  his  sons  should  have  the  bene- 
fit of  a  liberal  education,  and  he  refused  to  con- 
sent to  Mr.  Mower's  plan  unless  on  condition 
that  Henry  should  first  spend  some  time  at 
college.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  he  should 
go  to  Kenyon.  This  institution  had  been 
opened  only  a  year  before  this  time,  at  Gam- 
bier,  in  Knox  County,  the  neighboring  county 
to  Licking,  in  which  Granville  is  situated,  and 

24 


FIRST  EXPERIENCE  OF  COLLEGE     25 

therefore  for  the  young  boy  it  was  not  far  from 
home.  As  it  was  here  that  the  first  seeds  of 
his  future  faith  were  sown  in  Henry's  mind, 
though  not  apparently  during  his  first  stay,  a 
somewhat  detailed  account  of  the  college  and 
the  remarkable  man  who  founded  it  may  not 
be  out  of  place.  We  give  it  from  Mr.  Richards ' 
notes,  only  slightly  supplemented  from  other 
sources. 

The  institution  was  entirely  the  creation  of 
the  venerable  Philander  Chase,  first  Protestant 
Episcopal  Bishop  of  Ohio.  This  prelate  was 
a  man  of  immense  stature  and  rugged  strength, 
and  of  executive  ability  in  a  measure  corre- 
sponding to  his  size.  Though  his  energy  of 
character  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  want- 
ing in  balance  and  control  and  he  was  some- 
times judged  to  be  imperious  and  capricious, 
yet  he  was  withal  condescending  and  affable 
to  those  who  confided  in  him.  His  ambition, 
though  unbounded,  was  not  selfish.  As  was 
remarked  by  one  who  knew  him  well.  Bishop 
Chase  embraced,  in  his  immense  physique,  two 
separate  and  distinct  individualities,  the  little 
child  and  the  stern  and  vigorous  man.  Feeling 
deeply  the  necessity  for  a  college  and  seminary 
where  candidates  for  the  ministry  could  be 
trained  under  his  own  eye  and  in  a  manner  that 
would  fit  them  for  their  future  work  under  the 
hard  conditions  of  his  young  and  poor  diocese. 


26  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

the  Bishop  undertook  a  journey  to  England 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  necessary  funds. 
To  his  surprise  and  grief,  he  met  with  bitter 
opposition  on  the  part  of  some  of  his  brother 
clergj'men,  particularly  Bishop  Hobart  of  New 
York.  This  prelate  feared  the  effect  of  the  new 
project  on  the  fortunes  of  the  General  Seminary 
of  New  York,  which  had  been  established  by 
authority  of  tlie  General  Convention  with  the 
explicit  purpose  of  serving  the  needs  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  throughout  the  United 
States.  Notwitlistanding  this  opposition, 
which  followed  him  even  to  England,  Bishop 
Chase  met  with  entire  success  in  his  mission. 
Gaining  access  to  aristocratic  circles  in  the 
mother  country,  he  impressed  them  deeply  by 
his  strength  and  sincerity  of  purpose,  and  by 
his  accounts  of  the  vast  field  of  the  AYest,  with 
its  rapidly  increasing  population,  rude  condi- 
tions and  spiritual  destitution.  The  result 
was  that  he  received  encouragement  and  sub- 
stantial aid,  especially  from  Lord  Kenyon, 
Admiral  Lord  Gambler,  Lady  Harcourt,  Lord 
Bexley,  Lady  Rosse,  George  W.  Marriott  and 
others,  whose  names  he  was  afterward  careful 
to  affix  to  the  various  buildings  and  other  fea- 
tures of  his  college.  Returning  to  Ohio  with 
some  thirty  thousand  dollars,  a  large  sum  for 
those  days,  Bishop  Chase  purchased  from  a 
citizen  of  Pennsylvania,  familiarly  known  as 


FIEST  EXPERIENCE  OF  COLLEGE     27 

"Old  Nat  Hogg,"  a  tract  of  eight  thousand 
acres  of  land  near  the  centre  of  the  state,  some 
five  miles  from  Mt.  Vernon.  Here  he  began 
the  erection  of  a  college  and  theological  semi- 
nary, and  laid  out  the  site  of  a  town.  The 
whole  was  destined  in  his  magnificent  plans 
to  rival  the  universities  of  the  old  world;  but 
it  was  as  yet  only  a  dense  and  almost  unbroken 
forest.  Into  this  forest  the  Bishop  went  al- 
most alone,  camping  out,  living  in  a  log  cabin, 
in  which  his  family  was  also  sheltered  for  a 
time,  working  with  his  own  hands  and  enduring 
hardships  that  would  soon  have  disheartened 
men  of  weaker  temperament.  With  stone 
quarried  on  the  premises  he  erected  the  main 
building  of  his  college,  making  the  foundations 
and  walls  of  amazing  thickness.  In  1828  the 
school  was  opened  with  some  sixty-five  stu- 
dents brought  from  the  preexisting  school  at 
Worthington ;  and  when  young  Henry  Richards 
arrived  in  the  following  year,  conditions  were 
still  most  primitive.  One  building  sheltered 
the  Bishop  and  his  family,  the  professors  and 
the  students.  A  large  stone  kitchen  stood  at  a 
short  distance  south  of  the  college;  but  the 
kitchen  girls  were  not  the  daintiest  or  most 
skillful  cooks,  and  the  college  commons  were 
often  anything  but  inviting.  Mr.  Richards  re- 
cords one  incident  of  this  nature.  As  the 
waiter  poured  out  a  cup  of  coffee  from  an  old- 


28  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

fashioned  tin  coffee  pot,  a  considerable  length 
of  candle  wick  came  with  the  liquid,  indica- 
ting plainly  that  the  spout  had  been  employed 
as  a  substitute  for  a  candle-stick.  The  beds 
of  the  students,  at  least  in  some  of  the  dormi- 
tories, were  arranged  in  three  tiers  about  the 
walls,  like  berths  on  a  steamboat,  and  the  straw 
beds  were  not  without  numerous  and  unwel- 
come inhabitants.  It  is  little  to  be  wondered 
at  that  when  Dr.  Eichards,  who  had  accom- 
panied his  son  and  spent  the  first  night  on 
Gambier  Hill,  took  leave  of  him,  the  usual 
homesickness  of  the  new  college  student  closed 
in  upon  the  boy's  soul  with  a  sense  of  utter 
loneliness  and  desolation.  This  was  not  re- 
lieved by  the  fact  that  he  was  immediately 
introduced  to  the  study  of  Euclid,  which  at 
first  was  hard  and  distasteful  work  for  him. 
The  ''Pons  Asinorum,"  as  he  declares,  was 
a  bridge  of  sighs  to  him,  and  some  time  and 
effort  were  required  to  turn  the  wayward  cur- 
rent of  his  thoughts  into  the  fixed  channels  of 
mathematical  science.  But  he  was  naturally 
a  verj^  intelligent  and  earnest  student,  and  he 
soon  entered  with  zest  into  the  labor  and  play 
of  college  life.  Many  of  his  recreation  hours 
were  spent  in  singing,  for  which  he  had  great 
natural  talent  and  of  which  he  was  very  fond 
throughout  life,  retaining  his  clear,  sweet  and 
smooth  voice  even  to  very  advanced  age.    He 


FIRST  EXPERIENCE  OF  COLLEGE     29 

thus  describes  the  amusement  afforded  him  by 
this  resource  at  college.  ''My  friend,  Forshey, 
(who  "Was  very  ambitious  and  afterward  grad- 
uated from  West  Point)  was  very  fond  of 
music.  He  had  a  pretty  good  voice  and  plenty 
of  assurance,  but  his  efforts  were  disfigured 
by  a  nasal  Yankee  twang.  But  he  was  an  en- 
thusiast and  so  was  I,  and  we  took  to  each 
other.  ...  I  commenced  singing  when  I  was 
very  young.  I  had  a  clear,  shrill,  high  soprano 
voice  at  first,  and  took  a  leading  part  at  the 
singing  schools,  which  were  fashionable  in 
those  days.  I  remember  very  well  the  myste- 
rious longing  with  which  I  first  began  to  con- 
template the  cabalistic  signs  of  music,  and  how 
I  pored  over  them,  determined  if  possible  to 
find  the  secret  clew  by  which  the  initiated  could 
read  the  tunes  from  the  book.  And  I  did  study 
over  it  until  I  found  and  learned  the  secret.  .  .  . 
Forshey  and  I  did  have  the  most  glorious  sings. 
He  had  an  old-fashioned  singing  book,  full  of 
the  good  old  tunes  and  anthems,  and  every 
Sunday  evening  we  would  have  a  regular 
set-to.  Our  grand  piece  was  the  anthem  called 
the  'Resurrection,'  commencing,  'The  Lord  is 
risen  indeed,  hallelujah!'  You,  my  dear  chil- 
dren, have  often  heard  me  sing  snatches  of  the 
old  favorite  almost  every  year  since  you  were 
born,  especially  on  Easter  morning.  It  was  a 
rattling,    rumbling,   noisy   thing,   and   I   shall 


30  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

never  forget  the  enthusiasm  with  which  my 
musical  friend  and  I  would  execute  the  'Eesur- 
rection.'  'Coronation'  was  another  favorite." 
As  to  religious  and  moral  influences,  Mr. 
Richards*  recollections  of  this  first  year  at 
Kenyon  were  not  particularly  favorable.  He 
writes  that  their  church  was  the  dining-room. 
Daily  prayers  were  said  while  all  the  students 
were  in  their  places  at  table.  But  on  Sundays, 
the  tables  were  all  cleared  away,  the  folding 
doors  between  the  Bishop's  room  and  the  din- 
ing-room were  throAMi  open,  and  the  Bishop, 
or  **Pop"  Williams,  as  he  was  lovingly  but  ir- 
reverently called,  or  some  other  cleric  offici- 
ated, preaching  generally,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
to  unwilling  and  impatient  ears.  Mr.  Rich- 
ards retained  very  little  recollection  of  any 
marked  religious  influence  exerted  over  him, 
but  instead  a  painful  impression  that  the  year 
had  been  more  damaging  to  his  moral  and 
spiritual  l)eing  than  any  other  in  his  whole  life. 
His  room-mate,  during  at  least  a  portion  of  the 
term,  was  a  profane  and  reckless  fellow,  who 
apparently  had  never  enjoyed  any  religious 
training  whatever.  It  was  from  this  companion 
that  Henrv  received  the  nickname  of  Dick  Fid, 
the  name  Dick  continuing  to  be  his  common 
designation  among  the  students  throughout  the 
year.  He  accuses  himself  with  great  contri- 
tion of  falling  into  profanity,  under  the  force 


FIEST  EXPERIENCE  OF  COLLEGE     31 

of  example,  and  of  constant  neglect  of  his 
prayers,  although  he  had  been  so  strictly 
brought  up  and  had  recited  his  prayers  regu- 
larly for  many  years. 

"What  a  terrible  ordeal,"  continues  Mr. 
Eichards,  "is  that  period  of  life  when  the 
young  boy  is  just  budding  into  adolescence! 
How  many  souls  then  lay  the  foundation  of 
their  eternal  ruin!  How  wonderful  are  the 
provisions  of  Holy  Church  for  that  season! 
Since  I  have  become  a  Catholic,  I  see  how  much 
I  suffered  and  what  awful  risks  I  ran  by  not 
having  a  director.  The  only  wonder  is  that 
any  Protestants  grow  up  pure  and  free  from 
vice.  True,  there  are  plenty  of  bad  boys  in  the 
Church,  but  it  is  not  the  fault  of  our  Holy 
Mother.  It  is  the  fault  of  careless,  vicious 
parents,  who  do  not  realize  their  responsibility, 
and  allow  their  children  to  run  at  loose  ends." 

Some  anecdotes  given  by  Mr.  Richards  as  il- 
lustrating the  character  of  Bishop  Chase  are 
not  without  interest.  "One  evening,  about 
nine  o  'clock,  I  had  mounted  my  berth,  the  upper- 
most tier,  for  the  night,  when  some  noisy  fel- 
lows came  in.  There  were  three  of  us  in  the 
room  and  my  two  companions  had  not  yet  re- 
tired. Amid  the  noise  which  they  were  mak- 
ing, there  came  a  vigorous  knock  at  the  door, 
and  in  answer  to  the  summons  to  enter,  the  door 
flew  open  and  what  should  appear  but  the  im- 


32  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

mense  form  of  the  Bishop  with  his  big  cane  in 
hand,  darkening  the  door  like  a  threatening 
thunder  cloud,  while  with  stentorian  voice  he 

thundered :    '  'Apov    rbv    Kpd(3aTT6v     aov     koL     TTepnrdTei 

(Take  up  thy  bed  and  walk!)'.  How  I  did 
slink  back  into  my  berth!  'What  are  you  do- 
ing here,  you  young  rowdies!'  'Nothing, 
Sir!'  'Nothing!  'Who  rooms  here?'  The 
names  are  given.  '  Every  one  of  you  appear  at 
my  room  to-morrow  morning  and  give  an  ac- 
count of  yourselves  and  receive  the  punishment 
due  to  your  offenses ! '  In  the  morning  we  were 
summoned  before  'Pop'  Williams,  Professor  of 
Languages,  a  good  easy  soul,  who  let  us  off 
easily. 

"Among  the  visitors  Avho  frequently  came 
from  the  East  to  view  the  wonderful  works  of 
which  they  had  hoard  was  a  gentleman  from 
New  York,  who  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  in- 
stitution, and  to  whom  the  Bishop  paid  very 
special  attention.  The  Bishop  generally  rode 
on  horseback.  He  had  a  favorite  bobtailed 
horse,  which,  I  think,  had  some  intelligent  ap- 
preciation of  the  distingiiished  character  of 
his  master.  He  certainly  had  an  abundant  op- 
portunity for  learning,  sometimes  perhaps  to 
his  cost,  that  the  Bishop  was  a  man  of  great 
weight  in  the  community  (he  must  have 
weighed  over  three  hundred  pounds),  yet  I  am 
sure  old  'Bob'  was  always  proud  of  his  burden. 


FIRST  EXPERIENCE  OF  COLLEGE     33 

The  way  he  would  prance  up  and  down  the 
avenue,  with  the  episcopal  cloak  floating  in  the 
wind  and  the  tricornered  university  hat, 
brought  from  England,  nodding  to  the  meas- 
ured time  of  the  canter,  was  beautiful  to  be- 
hold. On  the  occasion  of  which  I  am  speaking, 
the  Bishop  had  taken  his  New  York  friend  over 
the  plantation.  ...  As  they  ascended  the  hill 
leading  into  the  main  street  of  the  town  from 
the  west,  the  Bishop,  inspired  by  the  mag- 
nificence of  his  schemes  and  the  greatness  of 
the  w^ork  in  which  he  was  engaged  and  upon 
which  he  had  been  descanting  with  his  usual 
eloquence,  rose  proudly  in  his  stirrups,  and 
with  a  lordly  sweep  of  his  hand,  indicating  the 
extent  of  the  domain  over  which  he  presided, 
exclaimed:  ^They  call  me  King  of  Gambler — 
and  so  I  am ! '  Yet  that  same  King  of  Gambler 
I  have  seen,  when  prancing  in  right  royal  style 
along  the  avenue  between  the  town  and  college, 
and  meeting  one  of  the  little  boys  from  the  lat- 
ter, raise  his  tricornered  hat  with  a  lordly 
grace,  and  with  a  most  condescending  inclina- 
tion, sweep  on  as  though  he  had  saluted  a 
prince  of  the  blood  royal." 

We  may  add  here  another  anecdote  of  Bishop 
Chase,  derived  from  another  source  and  not 
given  in  his  published  life.  "When  the  Bishop, 
then  occupying  the  see  of  Illinois,  returned  to 
the  East  to  preside,  as  senior  Bishop,  over  the 


34  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

General  Convention,  lie  met  in  the  company  a 
minister  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  several 
years.  In  the  meantime,  the  Reverend  gentle- 
man had  published  a  book  in  which  he  advo- 
cated the  opinion  that  the  Virgin  Mary  had 
given  birth  to  other  sons  after  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Bishop  Chase  refused  to  notice  in  any 
way  his  former  friend,  and  when  the  latter 
pressed  forward,  offering  his  hand,  the  Bishop, 
drawing  himself  up  to  his  full  height,  uttered 
with  intense  scorn,  the  words,  ''You  beast!" 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that 
one  of  Bishop  Chase's  descendants  became  in 
after  vears  a  Catholic  and  a  nun,  Sister 
Mary  F.  de  Sales  of  the  Visitation  order.  Un- 
der the  signature  of  Edselas,  her  contributions 
to  various  Catholic  periodicals  have  been  fre- 
quent up  to  the  time  of  her  death  in  recent 
years. 

When  the  lad  Henry  Richards  returned  in 
the  summer  of  1830  to  his  home  in  Granville, 
he  little  imagined  that  the  King  of  Gambler, 
whose  greatness  had  so  deeply  impressed  his 
boyish  imagination,  was  soon  to  be  ignomini- 
ously  dethroned  and  to  retire  in  discomfiture 
from  his  college  and  even  his  diocese.  This 
was  the  result,  in  part  at  least,  of  those  dissen- 
sions between  High  and  Low  Church  parties, 
which  were  already  beginning  to  tear  asunder 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  body,  but  of  which 


FIKST  EXPEEIENCE  OF  COLLEGE     35 

the  future  Ritualist  and  convert  was  still  in 
happy  ignorance.  The  history  of  this  change, 
so  far  as  it  bore  on  Mr.  Richards '  future  career, 
belongs  to  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER  III 

EARLY    LIFE    IN    OHIO THE    VILLAGE    STORE RELI- 
GIOUS  EXPERIENCES — THE   TEMPER- 
ANCE  MOVEMENT 

1830—1832 

On  his  return  from  college  in  the  autumn  of 
1830,  Henry  Richards  entered  the  store  of 
his  Uncle,  Lucius  D.  Mower,  as  a  clerk.  As 
usual  in  country  districts,  all  kinds  of  goods 
were  sold  in  one  establishment,  a  custom  which 
curiously  enough  has  recently  been  adopted  by 
the  largest  city  merchants,  both  wholesale  and 
retail,  in  the  enonnous  agglomerations  now 
called  in  America  department  stores.  But  in 
those  days,  before  the  advent  of  railroads  and 
the  invention  of  the  telegraph  and  the  tele- 
phone, the  methods  of  inland  commerce  were 
far  more  primitive,  and  perhaps  more  pictur- 
esque, than  now.  Twice  a  year,  as  Mr.  Rich- 
ards records,  his  Uncle  made  the  journey, 
''over  the  mountains,"  to  visit  the  eastern 
cities  in  order  to  lay  in  his  summer  or  winter 
stock  of  goods.  Traveling  nvas  usually  per- 
formed in  the  stage  coach,  and  the  entire  trip 

36 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  37 

consumed  about  six  weeks.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, the  merchants  went  on  horseback,  with 
a  drove  of  cattle  or  hogs,  animals  which  served 
not  uncommonly  as  a  circulating  medium  for 
the  transaction  of  business.  For  this  western 
traffic,  the  great  hig'hway  was  the  National  Mili- 
tary Road,  authorized  by  Congress  in  1796,  and 
intended  to  extend  from  Baltimore  to  St.  Louis, 
passing  through  the  states  of  Maryland, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Illinois.  The  great 
event  in  the  village  was  the  arrival  of  these 
goods  in  the  spring  or  autumn.  They  were 
transported  in  immense  Pennsylvania  wagons, 
each  drawn  by  six  powerful  horses.  The  wag- 
ons often  went  in  caravans,  those  destined  for 
towns  or  villages  off  the  main  highway  drop- 
ping out  of  the  line  as  they  reached  the  cross- 
roads leading  to  their  respective  destinations. 
The  collar  of  every  horse  was  surmounted  by  a 
chime  of  bells,  suspended  in  a  bow  and  jingling 
as  he  walked.  Sweet  and  cheering  was  the 
sound  of  the  bells  to  the  ears  of  the  expectant 
village  folk.  "The  new  goods  have  come! 
There  are  the  bells!  The  new  goods  have 
come!"  ''Talk  about  your  fashionable  open- 
ings in  modern  times,"  writes  Mr.  Richards  in 
high  scorn,  "where  fastidious  ladies  in  elabo- 
rate toilets  visit  some  fashionable  display  of 
the  latest  styles,  partly  to  indulge  an  idle  cu- 
riosity, but  partly  also  p-erhaps  to  display  them- 


38  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

selves!    We  sat  up  all  night.     Such  a  hammer- 
ing and  opening  of  boxes  and  piling  up  of  goods 
on    the    counter!     Cottons,    dimities,    calicos, 
broadcloths,  silks  and  satins,  ribbons  and  laces, 
hats    and   caps,    boots    and    shoes,    hardware, 
crockery,  tea  and  coffee  and  spices,  sugar  and 
molasses,  and  last  though  by  no  means  least  in 
the  estimation  of  the  'boys,'  vines,  brandies 
and    liquors    of    every    description."     Those 
opening  niglits  saw  some  jolly  times.    Accord- 
ing to  the  ideas  of  the  period,  for  such  arduous 
labors  the  workers  needed  to  be  fortified  and 
stimulated;   so,  as  the  weary  watches  of  the 
night  approached  the  small  hours,  casks  were 
placed  in  position,  faucets  were  inserted  and 
the  sparkling  streams  flowed  freely.     We  shall 
see  hereafter  that  this  part  of  the  proceedings 
possessed  few,  if  any,  chaiTns  for  the  young 
collegian. 

This  sketch  of  life  amid  the  primitive  condi- 
tions prevailing  in  the  early  settlements  of 
Ohio  would  be  incomplete  without  some  refer- 
ence to  the  great  flocks  of  wild  pigeons  which 
then  came  periodically  to  that  region  as  a  feed- 
ing ground.  Their  numbers  were  so  great  as 
sometimes  to  extend  in  a  compact  mass  for 
many  miles,  shutting  out  the  sunlight  like  a 
dense  cloud,  while  the  noise  of  their  wings  re- 
sembled thunder.  Wlien  they  were  observed  to 
be  about  to  settle  in  the  woods  in  the  neighbor- 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  39 

hood  of  some  village  or  town  all  the  inhabitants 
went  out,  armed  with  guns,  pistols  and  clubs, 
and  slaughtered  them  in  thousands.  So  great 
was  the  noise  and  confusion  that  the  reports  of 
the  fire-arms  were  often  inaudible  amid  the 
general  clamor,  and  yet  the  pigeons  continued 
to  take  their  position  on  the  branches,  which 
sometimes  broke  beneath  their  weight. 

Some  years  later,  the  annual  migration  of 
the  pigeons  ceased  and  nothing  more  was  seen 
of  them.  The  change  occurred  so  suddenly  as 
to  preclude  the  hypothesis  of  a  gradual  exter- 
mination. The  matter  remained  a  mystery 
until  a  few  years  ago,  when  a  traveler  in  South 
America  gave  accounts  of  immense  flocks  of 
the  birds  in  South  America,  precisely  resem- 
bling the  wild  pigeons  of  Ohio  and  the  West. 
No  doubt  they  discovered  better  feeding 
grounds  and  less  dangerous  conditions  in  the 
great  Southern  forests,  and,  as  by  a  concerted 
arrangement,  directed  their  annual  x^ourse 
thither. 

About  two  years  of  Mr.  Eichards'  youth  had 
passed  in  the  ordinary  routine  of  business. 
"While  the  lad  of  eighteen  was  most  conscien- 
tious in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  mnning  the 
high  respect  of  all  who  came  to  know  him,  and 
the  strong  affection  as  well  as  confidence  of 
his  employer,  he  yet  remained  unaffected  by 
any  strong  religious  feeling  or  purpose  in  life. 


40  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

He  had  given  up  the  habit  of  daily  prayers,  did 
not  entirely  eschew  profane  expressions,  and 
while  never  an  unbeliever  or  a  scoffer,  while 
indeed  attending  the  Sunday  services  regularly 
in  the  old-fashioned  Congregational  meeting 
house  and  singing  in  the  choir,  he  nevertheless 
took  little  interest  in  the  more  intense  mani- 
festations of  religious  feeling,  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  joke  the  young  men  who  had  taken 
part  in  the  meetings,  asking  them  whether  they 
had  yet  got  religion.  But  at  this  time,  he  was 
himself  caught  up  on  one  of  those  waves  of  re- 
ligious excitement  which  swept  periodically 
over  the  community.  His  conversion  to  God 
was  sincere  and  profound,  and  however  mis- 
taken in  some  of  its  features,  it  implanted  in 
his  soul  an  intense  religious  fervor  and  deter- 
mination of  will  which  never  failed  or  slackened 
tliroughout  his  future  life  and  which  ultimately 
brought  him  into  the  Catholic  Church.  The 
course  and  circumstances  of  this  change  are 
not  only  necessary  to  the  full  understanding  of 
Mr.  Eichards'  character  and  life,  but  they  are 
in  themselves  so  interesting  and  valuable  as  a 
study  of  religious  experience  and  of  mental 
and  moral  processes  of  a  kind  now  less  frequent 
and  popular  than  formerly,  that  we  think  it 
right  to  give  them  at  length  and  for  the  most 
part  in  Mr.  Richards'  own  words. 

The  original  Congregational  Church  of  Gran- 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  41 

ville,  to  which  the  great  majority  of  the  settlers 
had  belonged,  had  been  split  in  the  course  of 
time  by  the  dissensions  inseparable  from  Prot- 
estantism into  four  diverse  bodies,  the  Con- 
gregational, the  First  Presbyterian,  the  Second 
Presbyterian,  and  finally  the  Episcopalian. 
This  last  secession  had  taken  place  under  the 
leadership  of  Dr.  Richards,  Henry 's  father,  un- 
der circumstances  which  will  find  a  place  later 
in  our  narrative.  The  three  sections  still  ad- 
hering to  Calvinism  had  consented  to  reunite 
under  a  form  of  compromise  known  as  the  Plan 
of  Union,  devised  in  the  year  1801  by  the  Con- 
gregational General  Association  of  Connecticut 
and  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States,  and  sent  forth  to 
the  missionaries  and  missionary  churches  of  the 
West.  By  this  agreement,  the  congregation, 
while  retaining  substantially  its  independence 
of  all  others  both  in  matters  of  faith  and  dis- 
cipline, and  in  the  appointment  of  its  own  min- 
isters, yet  acquired  a  right  of  appeal  to  the 
Presbytery  in  certain  cases,  and  of  representa- 
tion therein.  Of  the  Presbyterio-Congrega- 
tional  church  thus  constituted  in  the  little  vil- 
lage, the  Reverend  Jacob  Little  was  pastor  at 
this  time  and  for  many  years  after.  Small  as 
was  his  field  of  labor,  Mr.  Little  was  a  remark- 
able man.  A  native  of  New  Hampshire,  ed- 
ucated at  the  noted  theological  school  at  An- 


42  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

dover  and  in  character  and  temperament  as 
well  as  by  education  a  Puritan  of  the  Puritans, 
IDlain  and  nigged,  with  strongly  marked  and 
even  somewhat  eccentric  characteristics,  a 
shrewd  observer  of  human  nature,  a  good  man- 
ager, possessed  of  enough  order,  method  and 
executive  ability  to  qualify  him  for  the  suc- 
cessful government  of  states.  Parson  Little 
devoted  himself  with  the  utmost  diligence, 
fidelity  and  earnest  zeal  to  the  labors  of  his 
narrow  ministry.  The  children  were  all  care- 
fully taught  in  Sunday  School  until  they  were 
fourteen  years  of  age,  when  they  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Bible  Class  conducted  by  the  Pas- 
tor himself.  Those  who  were  found  suitable 
finally  became  Sunday  School  teachers  in  their 
turn.  This  Bible  Class  Avas  an  interesting 
thing.  Its  members  occupied  the  front  seats 
of  the  gallery  which  surrounded  on  three  sides 
the  interior  of  the  old-fashioned  meeting  house. 
Sometimes  the  class  was  numerous  enough  to 
fill  some  rows  of  seats  besides.  The  Pastor 
occupied  the  pulpit,  which  brought  him  nearly 
on  a  level  with  the  galleries,  so  that  he  could 
survey  the  whole  class,  composed  of  young  and 
old  of  both  sexes,  ranged  in  order  around  him. 
That  pulpit,  by  the  way,  with  its  unusual 
height,  stiff  double  stairway  and  cushioned 
book  stand,  deserves  especial  mention.  Once, 
when  preaching  from  it,  Dr.  Sparrow,  a  Pro- 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  43 

fessor   of   Kenyon    College,    a    very   tall   and 
slender  man,  remarked  that  lie  felt  like  a  spar- 
row on  the  housetop.    In  his  plain  and  even 
quaint  and  homely  way,  Mr,  Little  asked  ques- 
tions and  explained  and  commented  on  the  pas- 
sages of  Holy  Writ  under  discussion.     Nearly 
all  the  members  of  the  class  sang  well — indeed 
the  little  village  has  been  notable  throughout 
its  histoiy  for  the  universal  interest  taken  in 
music  of  all  kinds  by  its  inhabitants — and  it 
was  not  a  little  impressive  to  see  and  hear  sev- 
eral hundred  persons,  old  and  young,  joining 
heartily  in  some  favorite  hymn  and  then  en- 
gaging with  pleased  interest  in  the  study  of 
God's  word.     There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
old-fashioned  Bible  Class,  as  carried  on  before 
the  advent  of  the  Higher  Criticism  and  of  that 
mania  for  purely  exterior  and  archaeological 
details  which  now  permeates  so  much  of  Prot- 
estant teaching  of  the   Scriptures,   almost,   it 
would  seem,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  spiritual 
significance,  was  a  great  cause  of  sturdy  and 
conservative  religious  faith  among  those  sub- 
jected to  its  training.     Then  this  faithful  pas- 
tor  had    a    series    of  methodically   organized 
weekly  gatherings,  prayer  meetings  for  men 
and    women    separately,    conferences,    inquiry 
meetings,  and  a  weekly  lecture  by  himself,  pre- 
pared and  written  out  with  much  care.    *^I 
have    often    thought,"    writes    Mr.    Richards, 


44  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

**what  an  admirable  Catholic  priest  he  would 
have  made."  Eveiy  two  or  three  years,  he  had 
a  Protestant  mission — Protracted  Meetings  or 
Revivals,  as  they  were  and  are  still  called  in 
Presbyterian  j^hraseology.  These  were  times 
of  harvest,  at  which  were  reaped  all  the  fruits 
of  the  labors  bestowed  on  the  working  of  his 
system.  The  young  people  who  had  reached  a 
suitable  age  and  who  had  been  in  the  meantime 
so  carefully  instructed  were  now  stirred  up  in 
these  meetings  and  were  "brought  out,"  "ob- 
tained hopes,"  and  were  converted  and  "be- 
came Christians."  Two  or  three  of  the  most 
earnest,  zealous  and  popular  preachers  avail- 
able were  invited  to  come  and  hold  the  exer- 
cises, for  which  in  the  meantime  the  jieople 
had  been  carefully  prepared.  As  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  congregation  were  farmers,  a 
season  of  the  year  w^as  chosen  when  they  were 
most  at  leisure,  and  they  were  exhorted  to  make 
ready  for  the  period  of  revival  with  as  much 
care  as  they  bestowed  on  the  plowing  and 
the  sowing  of  their  fields  for  the  future  crop. 
Sometimes  the  effect  of  these  meetings  was 
startling.  The  people  gave  themselves  up  to 
the  work  with  entire  abandon,  and  the  whole 
community  became  affected  with  the  most  pro- 
found seriousness  and  solemnity.  The  preach- 
ing generally  was  very  effective.  The  farmers 
came  in  from  every  direction  in  long  proces- 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  45 

sions  of  wagons  and  carriages,  the  mercliant 
left  his  counter,  the  artisan  his  shop,  business 
of  all  kinds  was  almost  wholly  suspended,  and 
scarcely  any  matter  was  thought  or  talked  of 
but  religion,  the  concerns  of  the  soul,  the  in- 
terests of  eternity.  Then  particularly  the  in- 
quiry meetings  were  brought  into  play.  Any- 
one who  had  begun  to  be  seriously  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  the  affair  of  salvation, 
was  set  down  as  an  inquirer,  and  if  he  could 
be  induced  to  commit  himself  so  far  as  to  at- 
tend one  of  these  meetings,  his  case  was  con- 
sidered pretty  safe.  "How  like  our  Confes- 
sional," says  Mr.  Richards,  ''yet  how  diifer- 
ent!"  Like  the  Confessional  in  the  purpose  of 
relieving  the  overburdened  heart  and  leading 
it  to  an  assurance  of  forgiveness  and  to  en- 
couragement and  guidance  for  the  future,  yet 
very  unlike  in  method  of  procedure,  and  of 
course  destitute  of  the  saving  grace  of  the  sac- 
rament. These  spiritual  conferences,  as  they 
might  have  been  called,  were  generally  held  in 
a  room  of  the  Pastor's  house,  though  sometimes 
more  ample  space  was  required,  as  the  school- 
room or  the  "Session  Room."  Here  the  in- 
quirers came  to  lay  open  their  hearts  to  the 
Pastor,  or  to  the  revival  preacher,  or  sometimes 
even  to  a  grave,  pious  and  well-tried  deacon  of 
the  church,  and  to  receive  such  counsel  and  en- 
couragement   as    their    cases    might    require. 


46  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Generally  the  inquirers  would  "find  peace"  in 
the  course  of  a  few  days.  But  there  were  al- 
most  always  some  very  difficult  cases ;  and  these 
seemed  generally  to  be  the  most  thoughtful  and 
least  sentimental  and  excitable  of  the  candi- 
dates. It  took  them  a  long  time  to  "get  reli- 
gion," and  sometimes  they  sought  and  sought, 
but  never  found.  At  times  such  candidates 
were  encouraged  to  go  forward  and  do  their 
duty,  even  though  they  had  not  gone  through 
the  stereotyped  process  and  could  not  say  that 
they  had  "experienced  a  hope."  Sometimes 
they  became  discouraged,  gave  up  the  pursuit 
of  what  seemed  always  to  elude  their  grasp, 
and  went  back  to  the  "weak  and  beggarly  ele- 
ments of  the  world." 

Henry's  first  impulse  toward  the  process  of 
conversion  seems  to  have  arisen  from  a  boyish 
attachment,  which  illustrates  the  powerful  and 
silent  influence  exerted  by  woman  in  matters 
of  religion,  an  influence  undoubtedly  designed 
by  Providence  and  felt  at  this  day  in  the  Catho- 
lic Church  in  America  as  one  of  the  strongest 
elements  of  her  stability  and  progress. 

He  had  fallen  deeply  in  love  with  one  of  the 
village  maidens,  Martha  Munson,  with  the  sole 
result  that  when  she  appeared  in  the  store,  the 
young  clerk  became  speechless  with  embarrass- 
ment and  was  almost  incapable  of  waiting  on 
her  or  any  other  customer.     Martha  died  in  her 


EAKLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  47 

sixteenth  year,  but  not  before  her  example  had 
exercised  an  unconscious  influence  over  the 
future  life  of  her  boyish  admirer.  During  one 
of  the  revivals,  when  Martha,  who  was  a  very 
good  and  pious  girl,  was  singing  with  the  choir 
one  of  the  most  solemn  hymns,  "Oh,  there  will 
be  Mourning  at  the  Judgment  Seat  of  Christ," 
she  was  completely  overcome  and  had  to  sit 
down.  In  a  word,  she  was  converted  and  in 
due  time  joined  the  church.  Henry  immedi- 
ately became  serious  and  thought  of  following 
her  example.  Meantime  his  relatives  were  anx- 
iously praying  for  his  conversion.  His  step- 
mother particularly,  whom  he  loved  tenderly, 
''agonized"  for  him  and  wrote  him  a  letter, 
still  preserved  in  his  papers,  in  which  she  begs 
him  to  attend  now  to  the  concerns  of  his  never- 
dying  soul,  and  in  which  the  most  earnest  love 
and  anxiety  shine  through  the  envelope  of 
somewhat  conventional  Calvinistic  phrases. 
''My  dear  stepmother's  brother,  Uncle  Thomas 
Bushnell,"  goes  on  Mr.  Richards,  "was  a  man 
of  great  good  sense  and  judgment,  and  very 
active  and  energetic  in  these  meetings.  There 
is  no  mistake  about  it,  some  of  those  descend- 
ants of  the  old  Puritans,  who  had  been  strictly 
brought  up  and  were  content  to  walk  in  the 
traditions  of  the  fathers,  were  very  sincere, 
earnest  and  devoted  men.  Uncle  Thomas  was 
one  of  the  best.     He  met  me  on  the  street  and 


48  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

gave  me  an  earnest  word  of  warning  and  ex- 
hortation. I  became  an  inquirer.  I  believe  I 
was  already  a  general  favorite  with  the  leading 
members  of  the  Church.  I  taught  in  the  Sun- 
day School,  I  sang  in  the  choir,  I  was  on  in- 
timate terms  with  Deacon  Bancroft,  Mr.  Brace, 
a  leading  musician,  and  others.  They  all  be- 
came deeply  interested  in  me.  I  was  em- 
phatically a  seeker.  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
try  to  get  religion.  ...  I  remember  distinctly 
going  into  the  meeting  house  one  evening  when 
the  revival  services  were  going  on,  taking  my 
seat  in  the  corner  of  one  of  the  square  high- 
backed  pews,  and  there  making  a  positive  effort 
to  get  religion  on  the  spot.  In  answer  to  my 
anxious  inquiries  what  I  should  do,  I  was  told 
to  'give  myself  uji,'  to  4rust  in  Christ,^  to  'sur- 
render myself  without  reserve  to  Him,'  to  'be 
willing  to  give  up  all  for  Christ,'  to  'throw  my- 
self into  His  anns,'  to  'yield  myself  without  re- 
serve to  His  guidance  and  direction.'  All  this 
I  was  willing,  nay,  anxious  to  do.  But  in  an- 
swer to  the  question,  'How  shall  I  do  it!'  the 
answers  were  vague,  indefinite  and  unsatisfac- 
tory. The  most  that  they  could  say  was  'Don't 
be  discouraged,  but  go  on  seeking  and  it  will 
come  bye  and  bye  in  God's  own  good  time.' 
My  good  father  saw  the  condition  of  mind  I 
was  in,  and  breaking  through  his  ordinary  re- 
serve on  such  subjects,  took  me  aside  one  Sun- 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  49 

day  when  I  had  returned  home  from  meeting 
evidently  in  great  distress  of  mind,  and  told 
me  frankly  that  he  feared  I  was  making  too 
much  account  of  feeling,  that  for  his  part  he 
did  not  believe  in  the  necessity  of  these  ex- 
traordinary experiences  which  apparently  at- 
tended the  conversion  of  some  people.  He 
thought  it  enough  for  me  to  go  on  and  do  my 
duty  as  a  Christian.  But  the  tyranny  of  the 
system  in  which  I  had  been  so  carefully  ed- 
ucated weakened  my  confidence  in  my  father's 
opinion.  I  thought  I  must  'find  peace,'  I  must 
'obtain  a  hope,'  and  so  I  went  on  from  day  to 
day  and  from  week  to  week,  seeking  and  striv- 
ing after  something  I  could  not  find.  I  do  not 
remember  clearly  how  long  this  state  of  things 
continued ;  it  must  have  been  some  weeks,  when 
one  Sunday  morning,  I  went  up  to  the  gallery 
of  the  church  and  sat  down  in  a  pew  by  the 
window  which  looked  out  upon  the  town  and 
the  surrounding  hills.  It  was  a  lovely  day  and 
answered  well  to  the  beautiful  though  perhaps 
somewhat  hackneyed  description  of  George 
Herbert : 

'Sweet  day,   so   calm,  so  cool,   so  bright, 
The  bridal  of  tlie  earth  and  sky!' 

A  hymn  was  given  out  and  the  choir  commenced 
to  sing.  All  this  had  a  soothing  effect.  A 
calm  and  peaceful  feeling  stole  over  me.     The 


50  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

thought  flashed  upon  my  mind,  perhaps  this  is 
what  I  have  been  seeking.  The  very  thought 
gave  me  happiness.  The  burden  was  gone. 
After  meeting  I  told  my  friends  how  I  felt. 
They  said  the  work  was  done,  I  was  converted 
at  last,  and  they  rejoiced  with  me.  I  had  ob- 
tained a  hope,  I  had  found  peace,  thenceforth 
I  was  on  the  Lord's  side.  Certainly  God  was 
good  to  me.  I  have  always  looked  upon  it  as 
a  most  kind  providence ;  for  I  might  have  gone 
on  in  my  blindness,  seeking  an  ignis  fatuus  un- 
til I  had  become  discouraged  and  had  fallen  into 
despair  or  become  disgusted.  Of  course  it  is 
easy  to  see  the  defects  of  this  miserable  Calvin- 
istic  system,  which  insists  upon  a  stereotyped 
process  of  conversion  for  every  one.  I  was 
converted  the  day  I  made  up  my  mind  to  be  a 
Christian  and  to  do  mv  dutv.  I  commenced 
praying.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  for  some  time 
past  I  had  become  so  careless  that  I  had  given 
up  my  prayers.  Now  I  resumed  that  duty  with 
others;  and  I  remember  wtII  how  I  sought  the 
garret  of  the  old  store  during  the  day,  and 
there,  among  boxes  and  barrels  and  the  rubbish 
there  stowed  away,  kneeling  down  and  agoniz- 
ing in  prayer,  begging  God  to  have  mercy  on 
me  and  forgive  me  and  show  me  what  He  would 
have  me  to  do.  I  was  very  serious,  very  much 
in  earnest. 
"The    experience    of    the    Protestant    sects 


EAELY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  51 

proves  that  the  great  danger  of  these  extraor- 
dinary conversions,  even  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
subjects  of  them  almost  invariably  err  in  mis- 
taking feeling  for  true  religion.  If  a  happy 
state  of  feeling  is  the  evidence  of  true  conver- 
sion, why  should  not  a  continuance  of  pleasur- 
able emotion  be  sought  as  evidence  of  continu- 
ing in  a  state  of  acceptance  with  God?  And 
when  that  pleasurable  emotion  subsides,  as  it 
must  subside  at  times  even  in  the  most  happily 
constituted,  since  a  state  of  constant  exaltation 
is  incompatible  with  our  condition  in  this  world, 
what  is  to  prevent  the  mistaken  devotee  from 
falling  into  despondency  and  perhaps  into  de- 
spair? Such,  in  fact,  is  oftentimes  the  case- 
I  saw  enough  while  I  was  a  Protestant  to  con- 
vince  me  that  the  safety  and  reputation  of  the 
so-called  Evangelical  sects  lay  in  the  fact  that 
by  a  happy,  practical  inconsistency  they  felt 
obliged  to  receive  a  fair  proportion  of  members 
who  could  not  say  that  they  had  ever  gone 
through  the  approved  process  of  conversion, 
but  to  use  a  common  and  favorite  expression  of 
such  persons,  all  they  could  say  was  that  'where- 
as once  I  was  blind,  now  I  think  I  see.'  They 
were  the  sober,  steady,  thoughtful,  well-bal- 
anced characters  who  acted  from  principle  and 
conscience,  and  who  never  would  have  thought 
much  about  feeling,  had  it  not  constituted  so 


52  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

important  an  element  in  the  popular  theory, 
and  been  so  constantly  harped  upon  by  the  over- 
zealous.  It  was  this  sober,  conservative  ele- 
ment, after  all,  that  constituted  the  most  trust- 
worthy church  members  and  did  most  credit  to 
the  various  societies,  whereas  the  sticklers  for 
extraordinary  conversions,  the  enthusiasts  who 
had  been  converted  upon  the  high  pressure 
principle,  were  generally  erratic,  unreliable, 
unstable  as  water.  Alas !  how  many  thousands 
of  souls  have  been  brought  in  at  the  floodtime 
of  revival,  who  have  subsequently  been  left 
high  and  dry,  like  the  riff-raff  on  the  banks  of  a 
stream  after  a  freshet.  Hardened  they  were 
too,  often  times,  like  the  nether  millstone,  with 
a  strong  disposition  to  revenge  themselves  upon 
all  religion  for  the  imposition  which  they  felt 
had  been  practiced  upon  them.  'You  need  not 
talk  to  us  about  your  religious  experiences, 
your  obtaining  hopes,  your  finding  peace,  and 
all  that.  We  have  been  through  it  all  and  have 
found  out  by  experience  that  it  is  all  humbug. 
It  is  a  delusion,  mere  animal  feeling  and  ex- 
citement.' However,  the  cases  were  by  no 
means  uncommon  of  persons  who  became  'Re- 
vival Christians,'  just  as  there  are  some  men 
among  Catholics  who  become  'Mission  Chris- 
tians,' and  as  these  latter  always  make  it  a 
point  to  attend  the  mission  and  go  to  Confes- 
sion and  Communion  and  pledge  themselves  to 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  53 

a  new  life,  so  tliese  poor  Protestants,  whenever 
there  was  a  religious  excitement,  would  always 
make  it  a  point  to  be  on  hand,  apparently  wide 
awake,  with  all  the  old  earnestness,  enquiring 
what  they  must  do  to  be  saved.  Sometimes,  no 
doubt,  there  was  a  motive  for  this  far  removed 
from  anxiety  for  the  salvation  of  the  soul. 
This  was  more  particularly  the  case  among  the 
Methodist  brethren,  who  were  perfectly  au  fait 
in  this  work  of  religious  excitement,  and  to 
whom  regular  seasons  of  dissipation  seemed 
to  be  as  spiritually  necessary  as  a  good  spree 
to  the  man  of  cups.  Methodist  meetings  in 
time  of  revival,  and  often  times  without  the 
machinery  of  the  revival,  were  a  curiosity,  in 
fact,  a  study  for  the  philosopher.  I  remember 
the  impression  made  on  my  own  mind  at  a 
meeting  when  I  was  a  boy.  There  was  an  al- 
ternation of  prayers  and  excited  exhortations 
and  thrilling  music.  I  felt  a  strong  unearthly 
feeling  stealing  over  me,  and  if  I  had  not  had 
the  presence  of  mind  to  retire  from  the  room, 
I  think  very  likely  I  should  have  become  ex- 
cited, perhaps  should  have  swooned  and  gone 
into  hysterics,  as  many  were  in  the  habit  of 
doing.  .  .  .  The  scenes  enacted  by  the  enthu- 
siastic people  were  sometimes  disgusting.  How 
often  have  I  seen  boys  and  girls,  nay,  young 
men  and  women,  gathered  into  a  promiscuous 
crowd,  and  as  the  excitement  increased,  sway- 


54  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

ing  from  side  to  side,  embracing  one  another, 
sighing,  groaning,  singing,  langhing,  shouting 
Glory!  Glory!  throwing  themselves  upon  the 
floor,  while  the  elder  brethren  and  sisters  stood 
around  encouraging  them  and  joining  in  the 
melee  at  the  top  of  their  voices.  Beelzebub  let 
loose  was  the  only  adequate  description  of  the 
scene.  Yet  in  the  West  the  class  of  religionists 
who  tolerated  and  encouraged  these  strange 
and  unnatural  eccentricities  under  the  sacred 
name  of  religion  constituted  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  professedly  religious  com- 
munity. Latterly  our  Methodist  brethren,  here 
in  the  East  at  least,  seem  to  have  taken  to  com- 
bining religion  with  the  world  by  making  their 
camp  meeting  grounds  fashionable  places  of 
summer  resort.  In  some  respects  this  is  no 
doubt  an  improvement  upon  the  old  practice, 
though  I  fear  the  result  will  be  disastrous  to 
the  cause  of  true  Methodism,  whose  prestige 
has  heretofore  lain  in  the  fact  that  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  advocate  par  excellence  of 
spiritual  religion,  that  which  appeals  to  the 
feelings  and  affects  the  heart. 

"There  are  two  grand  tendencies  in  Protes- 
tantism, the  one  to  a  cold,  worldly,  philosoph- 
ical skepticism,  the  other  to  a  vague,  wild, 
unreasoning,  blind  fanaticism.  "Worldly  pros- 
perity, wealth,  luxury,  tend  to  the  former. 
Fanaticism  finds  its  victims  more  frequently 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  55 

among*  the  comparatively  ignorant  masses. 
From  both  these  classes,  however,  God  chooses 
His  own  and  calls  them  to  Himself.  When  they 
hear  His  voice  and  follow  the  Good  Shepherd 
into  the  fold,  the  first  great  lesson  they  have 
to  learn  is  that  religion  does  not  consist  in 
feeling.  Faith  is  a  firm  and  undoubting  belief 
of  all  truth  that  God  has  revealed,  and  it  neces- 
sarily implies  a  life  corresponding  with  the  pre- 
cepts which  it  enjoins.  It  is  the  intention  that 
God  looks  at.  I  have  known  this  ever  since  I 
have  been  a  Catholic,  but  it  has  been  about  the 
hardest  lesson  to  learn  practically  that  I  ever 
undertook.  It  is  so  hard  to  get  rid  of  the  leaven 
of  Calvinistic  theology  in  which  I  was  raised. 
"After  my  conversion,  as  heretofore  related, 
I  became  entirely  changed.  I  was  now  a  man 
of  prayer,  a  'professing'  Christian.  The  first 
important  question  that  arose  was  to  what 
church  should  I  belong.  Think  of  it !  To  what 
church?  as  if  there  could  be  more  than  one  true 
Christian  church!  My  father  had  been  orig- 
inally a  Connecticut  Congregationalist,  accord- 
ing to  the  Saybrook  platform  of  1708,  I  be- 
lieve, but  had  become  disgusted  with  the  society 
in  Granville  on  account  of  a  scandal  arising  out 
of  a  quarrel  of  the  congregation  with  their  min- 
ister, Eev.  Mr.  Jinks."  The  history  of  this 
disagreement  throws  too  much  light  upon  re- 
ligious conditions  and  sentiments  of  the  time 


56  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

to  be  passed  over  in  silence.     The  Rev.  Aliab 
Jinks,  born  of  a  Quaker  family,  followed  suc- 
cessively the  avocations  of  farmer,  merchant, 
preacher,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  judge.    As 
preacher,  he  is  said  to  have  been  Methodist, 
Presbyterian,    Congregational   and   Episcopal, 
finally  returning  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, but  al)andoning  the  ministry  for  the 
judicial  post  to  which  he  was  elected  by  the 
people.     In  the  autumn  of  1823,  his  pastoral 
residence,  the  contract  for  the  erection  of  which 
had  been  taken  by  Mr.  Richards'  uncle,  Lucius 
D.   Mower,  was  approaching  completion.     As 
the  masons  were  anxious  to  begin  work  on  an- 
other  contract   before   the    coming   of   severe 
frost,  they  proposed  to  lay  on  Sunday  the  few 
courses  of  brick  still  wanting.     To  this,  as  a 
violation  of  the  Sabbath,  there  was  decided  op- 
position ;  but  Mr.  Jinks,  being  appealed  to,  gave 
it  as  his  opinion  that  as  a  matter  of  necessity, 
the  labor  was  justifiable  on  that  day.    When 
the   congregation   gathered   for    service,   they 
were  horrified  to  see  the  work  going  busily  on. 
Warm  protests  were  immediately  made,  parties 
were  formed,  and  although  the  offending  min- 
ister was  dismissed  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote,  the  ensuing  troubles  rent  the  little  church 
into   four   distinct  parts.     Dr.   Richards,  who 
was  constitutionally  a  conservative,  having  no 
sympathy  with  radicalism  in  any  form,  was 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  57 

repelled  by  what  seemed  to  him  fanaticism  and 
the  spectacle  of  helpless  disorder  in  these  dis- 
sensions. He  had  already  become  acqnainted 
with  the  writings  of  some  Church  of  England 
divines,  and  the  result  of  his  alienation  from 
his  Congregational  brethren  was  that  he  sought 
association  with  the  Episcopalian  body.  The 
influence  of  his  upright  and  thoroughly  unself- 
ish character  and  his  many  modest  good  deeds, 
served  to  gather  about  him  a  small  number  of 
the  best  members  of  the  community,  who  looked 
upon  him,  in  a  measure,  as  a  religious  guide. 
Dr.  Richards  became  a  lay-reader.  Episcopalian 
services  were  held  regularly  on  Sunday  even- 
ings in  his  own  house,  or  at  the  homes  of  others, 
and  the  nucleus  of  a  church  organization  was 
finally  formed,  with  Dr.  Richards  as  Senior 
Warden.  For  a  time,  the  redoubtable  Mr. 
Jinks  consented  to  officiate  for  his  Episcopalian 
brethren,  and  visiting  clerg^^Ilen  aided  at  inter- 
vals in  fanning  the  nascent  flame. 

''I  generally  went  with  Father,"  says  Mr. 
Richards,  continuing  his  narrative,  "but  on  ac- 
count of  my  conversion  in  the  old  church,  there 
being  no  immediate  prospect  of  the  creation  of 
a  regular  Episcopal  organization  in  the  town, 
I  concluded  to  join  the  established  church. 
The  scene  at  the  time  of  the  reception  made  a 
strong  impression  on  my  mind.  We  sat  in  the 
old  high-backed  pews,  and  Parson  Little,  sitting 


58  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

in  the  chancel,  asked  us  questions,  to  which  we 
gave  answers  acx2ording  to  our  knowledge.     Of 
course  we  were  obliged  to  profess  cordial  ac- 
ceptance of  the  Westminster  platform,  election, 
reprobation  and  all.     One  of  the  questions  of 
the  astute  Parson  I  shall  never  forget.     It  was, 
I  think,  a  kind  of  test  question  with  him.     *  Sup- 
pose it  should  be  made  known  to  you  that  it 
was  the  will  of  God  that  you  should  go  to  hell, 
do  you  think  you  would  be  willing  to  go?'     Of 
course  we  were  expected  to  answer  that  we 
would,  else  it  would  argue  a  want  of  confidence 
in  the  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God, 
whose  holy  will  must  be  supreme  in  all  things. 
I  believe  I  replied  that  I  hoped  I  should.  .  .  . 
"Having  joined  the  churcli,  I  became  very  ac- 
tive in  all  the  works  and  duties  required  of  the 
most  zealous.     I  led  in  prayer  at  the  meetings, 
exhorted,  taught  Sunday  School,  belonged  to 
the  choir  and  Bible  Class,  took  the  N.  Y.  Ob- 
server and  the  Missionary  Herald,  and  was 
generally  reckoned  one  of  the  fervent,  zealous 
young    Christians.     Some    half    dozen    of    the 
saints  of  the  church,  if  I  may  so  designate  them, 
including  Uncle  Leonard  Bushnoll,  old  Uncle 
Sereno  Wright,  and  his  son,  Dudley,  who  had 
been    converted    from    a    very   wild,    reckless 
young  scapegrace  to  a  most  devout,  conscien- 
tious, earnest  Christian,  Deacon  Gerard  Ban- 
croft and  perhaps  one  or  two  others  whose 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  59 

names  I  do  not  now  recall,  invited  me  to  join 
them  in  a  Aveekly  Sunday  evening  meeting  to 
offer  special  prayers  for  the  conversion  of  Mr. 
Elias  Fassett,  one  of  the  most  upright  and  re- 
spected citizens,  who  for  some  reason  unknown 
to  me  had  been  selected  as  a  fit  and  imj)ortant 
subject  for  prayer.  How  long  and  patiently 
and  earnestly  we  prayed!  And  the  answer 
never  came !  He  died  as  he  had  lived ;  but  long 
before  that  event,  I  had  become  a  Catholic,  and 
by  his  personal  kindness  to  me,  I  found  employ- 
ment in  his  bank  in  New  York  when  I  had  been 
thro^vn  out  of  business  and  did  not  know  which 
way  to  turn.  Who  can  say  that  this  was  not 
in  some  measure  a  recompense  for  sincere  and 
good  intentions  in  praying  for  him,  brought 
about  by  God  without  his  knowledge?" 

Not  long  after  his  formal  admission  to  mem- 
bership in  the  church,  Henry  Richards'  sin- 
cerity was  put  to  a  severe  test  in  an  incident 
which  finally  became  the  occasion  of  a  complete 
change  in  his  career,  sending  him  back  to  col- 
lege in  preparation  for  the  ministry.  This  oc- 
curred in  connection  with  the  great  movement 
for  Temperance  and  Total  Abstinence  from  in- 
toxicating drinks,  which  at  that  time  began  to 
take  definite  shape  in  the  country.  Through- 
out the  eighteenth  century  and  in  earlier  years 
of  the  nineteenth,  the  vice  of  drunkenness 
had    certainly    attained    overwhelming     pro- 


60  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

portions  in  English  speaking  and  indeed  all 
northern  countries.  All  classes  of  people  in- 
dulged freely  and  very  often  to  excess,  appar- 
ently with  little  sense  of  impropriety.  The 
stories  with  which  English  literature  of  the 
period  abounds  indicate  that  conduct  which 
would  now  meet  no  toleration  in  decent  society 
was  then  looked  upon  without  serious  disap- 
proval. It  has  been  asserted  that  for  the  first 
half  century  after  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, the  United  States  were  hardly  equaled  in 
the  prevalence  of  intoxication  even  by  the  Brit- 
ish and  Scandinavian  kingdoms,  and  were  un- 
approached  by  any  other  nation.  Mr.  Richards 
says  simply  that  every])ody  drank.  It  was  said 
that  clerg^^nen  not  infrequently  took  liquor  into 
the  pulpit,  with  which  to  refresh  themselves  at 
intervals  from  the  exhausting  labors  of  preach- 
ing. According  to  the  History  of  Granville,  the 
little  township  of  seventeen  hundred  inhabit- 
ants, supported,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1827,  no  less  than  six  distilleries,  and  consumed 
an  estimated  amount  of  ten  thousand  gallons 
of  whisky  annually.  The  morals  of  the  people 
in  other  respects  were  no  doubt  what  might 
have  been  expected  from  these  facts  and  from 
the  general  neglect  of  religion  which  had  super- 
seded the  first  fervor  of  the  colonists.  There 
were  in  existence  four  separate  and  opposed 
congregations,   each   claiming   a   right   to   the 


EARLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  61 

meeting  house,  in  addition  to  the  Methodist  and 
Baptists,  the  latter  body  meeting  in  the  Masonic 
hall.  Meantime,  attendance  at  religious  wor- 
ship was  generally  neglected,  and  the  boys  of 
the  village  had  in  sport  broken  a  great  propor- 
tion of  the  glass  in  the  meeting  house  windows. 
If  this  were  the  state  of  things  in  the  little  vil- 
lage which  from  its  inception  had  been  such  a 
stronghold  of  Puritan  doctrine  and  practice,  it 
may  easily  be  imagined  to  what  a  level  piety 
and  morals  had  fallen  in  other  regions  of  the 
West,  nearer  to  the  principal  highways  of 
travel,  into  which  a  promiscuous  multitude  of 
adventurers  was  daily  pouring.  Some  few 
years  previously  to  this  date,  it  was  commonly 
said  in  New  England  that  west  of  the  Ohio 
River  the  Sabbath  had  no  existence.  A  com- 
mittee of  Congregationalists,  sent  to  report 
upon  the  religious  conditions  and  needs  of  the 
West,  gave  a  mournful  account  of  the  preva- 
lence of  irreligion,  drunkenness,  blasphemy, 
lewdness  and  every  disorder.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Little  appeared  at  Gran- 
ville, and  began  the  laborious  career  described 
above.  One  of  his  earliest  steps  was  to  take 
up  with  great  zeal  the  Temperance  Movement 
which  had  recently  been  inaugurated.  His 
Total  Abstinence  Society,  begun  in  1828,  was 
the  first  organized  west  of  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains.   When  Henry  Richards  underwent  his 


62  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

religious  conversion,  about  the  year  1832,  the 
reform  movement  was  in  full  swing.  A  public 
sentiment  was  created  which  for  a  time  seemed 
to  bear  down  all  before  it.  Yet  there  were 
always  some  who  held  aloof.  Not  only  the  hard 
drinkers,  who  refused  to  be  divorced  from  their 
vicious  habits,  but  many  persons  of  high  char- 
acter deprecated  what  they  thought  to  be  the 
excesses  of  the  movement.  One  of  these  was 
Plenry's  father.  Dr.  Richards,  and  with  him 
stood  a  number  of  leading  citizens  who  looked 
up  to  him  and  over  whom  he  exerted  great  in- 
fluence. Doctor  Eichards  would  never  sanction 
the  principle  of  ''total  abstinence  from  all  that 
can  intoxicate,"  as  of  universal  and  necessary 
application.  He  was  willing  to  forego  and  con- 
demn the  use  of  distilled  liquors  as  a  beverage. 
But  wine  he  would  not  banish,  and  he  cited  the 
example  of  our  Lord,  who  not  only  made  use  of 
the  juice  of  the  grape,  but  performed  a  miracle 
to  remedy  its  deficiency  at  a  wedding  party. 
Henry  however,  as  a  zealous  member  of  the 
Church,  joined  with  the  Pastor  in  the  extrem- 
est  view.  ''Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not!" 
was  the  motto  upon  which  the  changes  were 
rung  so  constantly  that  the  very  thought  of  hav- 
ing anything  to  do  with  the  "vile  thing"  became 
distasteful  and  even  terrifying.  Yet  in  his 
capacity  as  clerk  in  his  uncle's  store,  he  was 
expected  to  sell  liquors  of  all  kinds  and  in  any 


EAKLY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  63 

quantity  to  all  comers.  Naturally  his  con- 
science took  alarm.  At  tirst  lie  justified  him- 
self on  the  ground  that  his  employer  was  re- 
sponsible, not  himself.  But  this  was  too  weak 
a  defense.  He  was  finally  decided  by  a  course 
of  reasoning-  substantially  as  follows:  "To  sell 
butcher  knives,  for  instance,  is  not  in  itself  a 
sin.  But  if  people  should  get  into  the  habit  of 
cutting  and  killing  themselves  with  butcher 
knives,  and  if  you  had  good  reason  to  believe 
that  to  be  the  use  to  which  they  intended  to  put 
them  when  they  purchased  them  of  you,  it  would 
be  wrong  for  you  to  sell  them  or  to  be  in  any 
way  instrumental  in  furnishing  them."  The 
conviction  took  strong  hold  of  his  mind  that  he 
could  not  conscientiously  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  liquor  department  of  the  store.  From 
that  time,  when  he  saw  customers  approaching 
who  would  presumably  desire  to  be  served  with 
the  obnoxious  article,  he  would  slip  out  of  the 
way  and  leave  the  unwelcome  office  to  others. 
Curious  and  amusing  were  the  shifts  to  which 
he  was  sometimes  obliged  to  resort.  But  this 
could  not  last  forever,  and  the  day  finally  came 
for  an  open  declaration  of  principles.  One 
winter  evening,  when  his  uncle,  Lucius  Mower, 
was  sitting  comfortably  by  the  stove,  and  Henry 
was  at  the  counter,  a  customer  well  known  for 
his  bibulous  propensities  entered  and  demanded 
a  quart  of  whisky.     ''Wait  a  moment,"  was 


64  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

the  answer,  ' '  and  I  will  go  and  call  Uncle  Sher- 
lock (who  was  in  the  back  room)  to  draw  it 
for  you. ' '  Lucins  Mower,  who  was  a  stern  man 
on  occasion  and  a  hearty  hater  of  Presbyte- 
rianism,  tunied  a  look  of  surprise  on  his  nephew 
and  thundered  "Draw  it  yourself!"  "I  can- 
not," replied  the  youth.  "I  have  made  up  my 
mind  that  it  is  wrong  for  me  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  it. "  ' '  Ha ! ' '  rejoined  his  Uncle,  with 
an  oath,  ''those  Presbyterians  have  been  tam- 
pering with  you,  I  suppose!  Well,  Sir,  you 
may  as  well  understand  that  if  you  cannot  do 
as  I  wish  in  this  store,  you  and  I  must  dissolve 
partnership!"  ''Very  well,"  was  the  firm  re- 
ply; "if  the  handling  of  liquors  is  an  indispen- 
sable part  of  my  duty  here,  then  I  must  leave ! ' ' 
After  a  time,  the  Mower  brothers  gave  Henry 
to  understand  that  they  were  anxious  that  he 
should  not  leave  them  and  that  he  might  remain 
on  his  own  conditions.  But  Dr.  Richards  had 
always  desired  a  liberal  education  for  his  sons, 
and  the  thought  of  a  vocation  to  the  Ministry 
had  already  taken  root  in  Henry's  mind.  He 
therefore  persisted  in  cutting  loose  from  his 
uncle's  employ,  and  after  serious  consultation 
with  his  father  and  friends,  recommenced  his 
classical  studies. 

But  before  following  him  in  this  new  period 
of  his  career,  we  must  say  a  word  as  to  the 
effect   of   his   example   on   his   uncle's   mind. 


EAELY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  65 

Shortly  after  the  incident  detailed  above,  Lucius 
Mower  was  advised  by  his  physician  to  seek  a 
warmer  climate,  in  the  hope  of  reestablishing* 
his  health,  seriously  impaired  by  consumption. 
He  accordingly  made  the  journey  to  St.  Augus- 
tine, Florida.  Thoroughly  worldly  as  he  was, 
he  had  hitherto  given  his  whole  mind  and  atten- 
tion to  business  affairs.  In  these  he  was  highly 
successful,  and  throughout  life  was  looked  upon 
as  the  leading  business  man  of  the  little  com- 
munity. Almost  every  considerable  enterprise 
in  the  village  was  either  initiated  or  brought  to 
a  successful  completion  by  his  energy  and 
sagacity.  The  fortune  that  he  acquired  was  so 
large  for  those  days  that  the  historian  of  Gran- 
ville records  the  settlement  of  his  estate  after 
his  death  as  one  of  the  disturbing  elements 
bringing  on  a  period  of  financial  embarrassment 
in  the  village.  But  now,  away  from  home  and 
free  from  the  distractions  of  commerce,  with 
death  staring  him  in  the  face,  he  was  led  to  re- 
flect seriously  on  the  weighty  problems  of  ex- 
istence. Meeting  at  St.  Augustine  an  excellent 
Episcopalian  clergyman,  also  an  invalid,  he  was 
helped  by  their  long  conversations  on  religious 
subjects  to  an  entire  change  of  conviction  and 
of  heart.  From  an  unbeliever,  he  now  pro- 
fessed faith  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
sincere  repentance  for  his  sins,  and  finally  died 
in  the  hope  of  salvation  through  Christ,  the  Re- 


66  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

deemer.  During  his  illness,  Mr.  Mower  spoke 
frequently  to  those  about  him  of  a  nephew  who 
had  lived  with  him  and  whom  he  esteemed  very 
highly.  He  spoke  of  this  youth  as  very  con- 
scientious, and  regretted  deeply  having  at- 
tempted to  influence  him  to  act  against  his  con- 
scientious convictions.  He  expressed  a  great 
desire  to  see  him,  to  ask  his  forgiveness  and  to 
express  to  him  his  respect  and  affection. 
Doubtless  the  consistent  obedience  to  the  dic- 
tates of  conscience  on  the  part  of  the  boy  of 
eighteen  had  proved,  in  the  hands  of  Provi- 
dence, one  means  of  recalling  the  hardened  man 
of  the  world  to  faith  and  repentance.  Nor  did 
the  effect  stop  with  him.  Tlie  conversion  and 
Christian  death  of  Lucius  Mower  produced  a 
profound  sensation  upon  his  friends  at  home. 
His  letters  written  after  the  change  evinced 
great  good  sense  and  entire  sincerity.  In  them 
he  spoke  particularly  of  the  danger  of  a  death- 
bed repentance,  of  which  he  seemed  very  sen- 
sible, and  expressed  the  deepest  sorrow  for  the 
sins  of  his  former  life  and  his  entire  reliance  on 
the  infinite  mercy  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Mr.  Mower's  companions  and  business  associ- 
ates were  generally  godless  men.  Many  of 
them  had  become  disgusted  with  the  quarrels 
alluded  to  above  in  connection  with  the  Eev. 
Mr.  Jinks,  which  had  driven  Dr.  Richards  from 
the  Congregational  church ;  but  instead  of  going 


EAELY  LIFE  IN  OHIO  67 

higher  as  he  did,  they  took  refuge  in  irreligion. 
Though  few  of  them  eared  enough  for  the  sub- 
ject to  give  it  careful  study  and  reflection,  or 
even  to  seek  arguments  in  the  writings  of  un- 
believers to  justif}^  their  course,  yet  practically 
they  were  godless  and  in  some  cases  positive 
scotf ers.  In  this  class  of  indifferentists  and  un- 
believers were  the  three  younger  brothers  of 
Lucius  Mower,  who  succeeded  to  his  business 
and  died  successively,  like  him,  of  consumption. 
Without  exception,  they  followed  the  example 
of  their  eldest  brother  and  died  in  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  Lucius  Mower's  biography  was 
written  and  published  by  Dr.  Richards  in 
pamphlet  form. 


CHAPTER  lY 

COLLEGE — GRADUATIOX ENGAGEMENT 

1832—1839 

It  was  probably  in  the  autumn  of  1832,  after 
the  incident  related  in  the  last  chapter,  that 
Henry  Richards,  while  continuing,  for  a  time 
at  least,  to  live  at  his  uncle's  house,  became 
a  student  of  the  *' Granville  Literary  and 
Theological  Institution."  This  ambitious  title 
designated  an  academy  founded  in  the  preced- 
ing year  by  the  Baptist  denomination  of  Ohio. 
It  has  since  passed  through  the  successive 
stages  of  evolution  indicated  by  the  titles  of 
"Granville  College"  and  "Denison  Univer- 
sity," under  which  last  name  it  remains  the 
chief  pride  of  the  little  village.  Henry's 
younger  brother  William  had  preceded  him  in 
the  Academy,  entering  with  the  first  class  and 
beginning  immediately,  with  about  a  dozen 
other  lads,  mostly  intimate  friends  or  relatives, 
his  preparation  for  college.  Here  the  boys  en- 
joyed the  advantage  of  excellent  drilling,  espe- 
cially in  languages.  The  Reverend  John  Pratt, 
first  President  of  the  Institution,  was  a  thor- 
ough and  systematic  teacher  of  the  old  school. 

68 


GRADUxVTION— ENGAGEMENT       69 

When  after  two  years  of  diligent  study  Henry 
was  ready  to  make  a  new  trial  of  Kenyon  Col- 
lege, he  received  from  Mr.  Pratt  a  most  flat- 
tering testimonial  to  his  estimable  character 
and  manners,  tine  talents  and  praiseworthy  in- 
dustry. He  was  guaranteed  as  well  qualified 
for  the  standing  of  Freshman  in  the  best  col- 
leges. 

In  the  autumn  of  1834,  being  then  about 
twenty  years  of  age,  Henry  Richards  again 
presented  himself  at  the  doors  of  Kenyon  Col- 
lege and  claimed  admission  to  the  Freshman 
class.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  young  man 
that  he  did  not  present  the  very  favorable  tes- 
timonial received  from  President  Pratt  of  the 
Granville  Institution,  which  still  remains  among 
his  papers,  preferring  instead  to  submit  him- 
self to  an  examination.  He  was  confident  of 
passing  with  credit  and  was  proud  of  his 
teachers,  believing  with  reason  that  there  were 
few  professors  more  thorough  in  drilling  their 
pupils  in  first  principles,  especially  in  the  gram- 
mars of  the  languages,  than  those  in  the  village 
academy  under  Mr.  Pratt.  His  confidence  was 
not  disappointed,  and  he  was  informed  after 
the  examination  that  his  perfect  familiarity 
with  the  Latin  and  Greek  grammars  was  con- 
sidered remarkable. 

On  his  return  to  Kenyon,  Henry  found  great 
changes  effected  in  the  interval  of  four  years.- 


70  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

The  venerable  Bishop  Chase,  founder  of  the 
college,  had  resigned  not  only  the  Presidency, 
but  his  see  as  well,  and  his  place  had  been  taken 
by  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  a  young  clergyman  of 
jfine  address,  attractive  style  of  preaching  and 
thoroughly  evangelical  views.  New  buildings 
had  been  erected,  Commons  had  been  abol- 
ished, the  slovenly  and  disedifying  maid  serv- 
ants had  been  dismissed,  and  a  general  improve- 
ment was  visible  on  all  sides  in  the  external 
appearance  and  internal  arrangements  and 
government  of  the  college. 

The  four  years  of  study  that  followed  were 
naturally  not  very  eventful.  Henry  was  fond 
of  his  books  and  studied  scarcely  more  from 
his  profound  sense  of  duty  and  conscience,  his 
characteristic  trait  throughout  life,  than  from 
a  genuine  pleasure  in  intellectual  work.  He 
liked  Latin  better  than  Greek,  and  Mathematics 
better  than  either.  Geometry,  as  exercising 
the  reasoning  powers,  seems  to  have  had  an 
especial  attraction  for  him.  He  complains  of 
the  limitations  of  his  memory  and  tells  how 
his  room  mate  and  most  intimate  friend,  Mun- 
son  of  Connecticut,  would  come  in  from  Greek 
recitation,  lean  up  against  the  window  casing, 
look  over  the  lesson  for  the  following  day  for 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  then  close  his 
book  with  a  bang  and  throw  it  on  the  table,  ex- 
claiming:    "There,  that  lesson  is  got!"  and 


GRADUATION— ENGAGEMENT       71 

forthwith  run  out  of  doors  to  take  part  in 
sports,  while  Richards  w^as  painfully  thumbing 
his  dictionary.  Yet  in  spite  of  this  difference, 
which  was  chiefly  in  memory,  Henry  took  the 
honors  of  his  class.  Towards  the  end  of  his 
first  year  he  writes  to  his  father:  ''We  are 
getting  along  finely  in  our  studies.  Have  read 
one  book  (180  odd  chapters)  in  Herodotus  and 
commenced  Homer,  which  is  assigned  in  the 
regular  course  to  the  Sophomore  year.  To  the 
36th  chapter  of  the  3d  book  of  Livy  and  about 
half  through  the  8th  book  of  Legendre.  ...  I 
assure  you  it  keeps  me  very  busy.  We  are 
required  to  write  compo.  every  other  week,  be- 
sides Society  duties."  In  conduct  he  was  ex- 
emplary, as  became  a  "professor  of  religion" 
and  one  who  even  contemplated  the  ministry, 
and  his  name  was  never  connected  with  any 
students'  scrape  or  boyish  disorder.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  was  a  leader  in  amusements  of 
a  higher  kind,  as  well  as  in  the  serious  religious 
life  of  the  student  body.  His  old  love  of  music 
had  not  deserted  him.  During  his  stay  in  his 
uncle's  employ,  he  had  purchased  a  flute,  and 
learned,  without  a  teacher,  to  play  upon  it  with 
taste  and  some  degree  of  skill.  Once  while  he 
was  thus  engaged,  his  uncle  impatiently  ex- 
claimed: "Put  up  that  flute  and  don't  let  me 
hear  you  play  it  any  more.  I  never  knew  a 
musician  who  was   good  for  anything  else!" 


72  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

"With  his  usual  persistence  in  what  he  thought 
to  be  right  and  good,  Henry  declined  to  discon- 
tinue his  musical  efforts  or  to  adopt  his  uncle's 
sweeping  proposition  as  universally  true, 
though  he  admits  in  his  notes  that  when  applied 
to  musical  geniuses,  it  is  confirmed  by  his  own 
lifelong  observation.  Such  persons,  he  be- 
lieved, are  endowed  with  so  overpowering  a 
development  of  the  musical  faculty  that  it 
throws  the  mind  out  of  balance  and  unfits  the 
man  for  the  sober,  every-day  duties  of  life. 
Some  time  after  his  entrance  to  Kenvon,  the 
college  band  was  organized,  and  Henry  proved 
a  useful  member,  playing,  at  successive  periods, 
upon  the  flute,  the  bassoon,  the  trombone  and 
the  bass  viol,  and  occasionally  trying  the  flag- 
eolet. Somewliat  later,  when  his  theological 
course  had  begun,  the  ecclesiastical  students 
were  assigned  rooms  in  one  of  the  professors' 
houses,  pending  the  completion  of  the  new 
seminary  buihling,  Bexley  Hall.  Here  Mr. 
Odiorne,  the  ** Agent"  of  the  institution,  lived 
in  bachelorliood,  and  to  amuse  himself  had  pur- 
chased a  parlor  organ.  Mr.  Kichards,  popular 
and  beloved  of  the  professors  as  of  all  others, 
was  permitted  to  practice  on  it  at  will. 

In  all  the  religious  societies,  devotional  meet- 
ings and  active  works  of  zeal  carried  on  in  the 
college,  Henry  took  an  earnest  part  from  the 
very  beginning.     His  remarks  on  one  of  these 


GRADUATION— ENGAGEMENT       73 

works  are,  if  we  mistake  not,  worth  copying 
in  full:  "There  was  one  work  in  which  I 
was  engaged  during  the  whole  time  of  my  stay 
in  Gambler  that  I  look  back  upon  with  pleasure, 
as  it  really  involved  considerable  self-denial, 
though  I  do  not  think  I  was  conscious  of  this 
at  the  time.  I  went  about  it  as  a  matter  of 
course  and  followed  it  up  in  the  most  natural 
manner  as  the  appropriate  work  of  a  Christian, 
whether  he  contemplated  the  ministry  or  not.  I 
allude  to  the  work  of  Sunday  School  instruc- 
tion in  the  neighborhood  of  the  college.  The 
whole  countrv,  for  from  six  to  ten  miles  about 
the  college,  was  looked  upon  as  missionary 
ground.  In  every  direction,  Sunday  Schools 
were  established  .  .  .  generally  in  the  school 
districts  where  there  were  (public)  school- 
houses,  though  sometimes  they  were  held  in 
private  houses,  and  log-cabins  at  that.  In  fact, 
the  school-houses  were  generally  built  of  logs 
in  primitive  fashion,  with  thatched  walls,  shake 
roofs  and  puncheon  floors.  .  .  .  One  end  of  the 
cabin  was  appropriated  to  the  fireplace.  Ah, 
those  fireplaces  were  something  to  remember! 
.  .  .  Sometimes  they  had  chimneys  built  of 
stones  gathered  from  the  surface  and  laid  up 
with  more  or  less  regularity  and  artistic  skill, 
and  extending  above  the  roof,  sometimes  with 
and  sometimes  without  the  adhesive  aid  of 
mortar.     In  some  cases,  I  am  compelled  to  say, 


74  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

these  expansive  fireplaces,  so  suggestive  of 
broad  philanthropy  and  open-hearted  warroth  of 
loving  charity,  were  by  the  shiftlessness  of  the 
proprietors  changed  to  symbols  of  the  very  op- 
posite of  these  virtues.  The  smoke  was  left, 
without  a  flue,  to  wander  at  its  own  sweet  will 
wherever  it  listed,  to  find  egress  through  the 
interstices  of  the  walls  and  ceiling.  In  these 
cabins,  thus  variously  constructed  and  equipped, 
we  held  our  Sunday  Schools  and  often  our 
meetings  also,  at  which  the  young  aspirants  to 
the  ministry  used  to  exercise  their  gifts  to  the 
great  edification  of  the  simple  country  folk. 
Sometimes,  however,  we  succeeded  in  persuad- 
ing the  regular  clerg>^  of  the  college  to  come 
out  with  us  and  hold  service  and  preach.  It 
occurs  to  me  as  I  write,  with  what  pleasure  Dr. 
Sparrow,  in  particular,  was  always  received  by 
these  country  congregations.  He  was  a  real 
Irishman,  full  of  the  true  Irish  eloquence,  re- 
fined and  cultivated.  Though  so  great,  as  we 
all  esteemed  him,  he  was  yet  so  humble  and 
bashful  that  in  addressing  a  country  congrega- 
tion in  a  log  cabin  he  would  commence  his  ser- 
mon sitting,  on  the  plea  that  he  did  not  feel  very 
well,  which  was  always  true,  and  then,  as  he 
warmed  with  his  subject,  he  became  emboldened 
and  would  rise  from  his  seat  and  pour  forth  a 
stream  of  impressive,  thrilling  eloquence  that 
carried  his  hearers  away.  ...  I  was  a  great 


GEADUATION— ENGAGEMENT       75 

favorite  with  liim  and  used  to  accompany  liim 
frequently  on  his  preaching  expeditions.  On 
one  occasion,  as  Ave  journeyed,  the  subject  of 
the  inconvenience  of  excessive  modesty  came 
up,  and  the  importance  of  courage  and  self- 
reliance, — in  a  word,  of  'push,'  in  order  to 
succeed  in  life.  'Mr.  Eichards,'  said  the  Doc- 
tor, 'I  have  learned  one  very  important  lesson 
as  the  result  of  my  experience  in  life.  Gold 
is  precious  and  silver  is  precious,  but  there  is 
nothing  like  brass!' 

"Summer  and  winter  we  went  regularly, 
faithfully  and  punctually  to  our  work.  Cold 
or  hot,  wet  or  dry,  blow  high,  blow  low,  under 
the  burning  sun  of  summer,  and  the  piercing 
blasts  of  winter,  through  snow  and  slush  and 
sleet,  we  trudged  our  four,  five  and  six  miles, 
to  impart  instruction  to  these  poor  children 
and  to  preach  to  these,  in  many  instances,  be- 
nighted souls.  There  Avas  some  little  jealousy 
among  the  people  of  our  Prayer  Books  and  our 
Episcopal  notions  and  customs.  But  we  gen- 
erally managed  to  avoid  offense  in  these  par- 
ticulars. In  fact,  the  task  was  not  a  difficult 
one,  as  we  were  generally,  as  our  High  Church 
brethren  used  to  say,  only  Presbyterians  and 
other  sectaries,  plus  the  Prayer  Book. 

''Sometimes,  I  confess,  this  work  became 
tedious ;  but  it  was  really  wonderful  with  what 
unflagging  zeal,  upon  the  whole,  we  persevered 


76  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

in  it.  In  summer  it  was  not  so  bad ;  it  mattered 
not  how  open  and  airy  our  log  cabins  were. 
But  in  winter  it  made  a  difference.  Not  always 
did  the  capacious  fireplaces,  extending  from 
side  to  side  of  the  cabin,  glow  with  fervent 
heat  .  .  .  not  always  were  the  intrusive  winds 
excluded.  Insufficient  thatch  and  a  super- 
abundance of  green  wood,  smoldering  on  the 
hearth,  made  our  reception  decidedly  cool. 
But  I  think  the  warmth  of  our  zeal  generally 
made  up  for  all  deficiencies  of  this  kind.  We 
were  sometimes  rewarded  by  witnessing  some 
fruits  of  our  labors.  The  children  were  gen- 
erally a  lioterogeueous  agglomeration  of  all 
sorts,  good,  bad  and  indifferent;  but  there  were 
some  of  extraordinary  talent  and  precocious 
moral  development.  Sometimes  I  would  be 
astonished  by  some  child  who  had  been  given 
for  lesson  a  few  verses  of  the  Bible  going  on 
and  reciting  the  whole  chapter.  There  were 
some  children  who  would  commit  chapter  after 
chapter  with  the  greatest  ease,  giving  evidence 
of  the  most  wonderful  memory.  But  I  must 
not  dwell  too  long  upon  this  subject,  though  it 
calls  up  associations  which  will  never  cease 
to  be  invested  with  the  charm  of  highest  in- 
terest to  me.  Several  of  my  companions  be- 
came clergymen  and  missionaries,  and  two  at 
least,  Lyle  and  Graham,  went  to  China.  If 
they  had  been  Catholics,  I  do  not  doubt  they 


GKADUATION— ENGAGEMENT       77 

would  have  accomplished  great  good  among 
the  heathen.  As  it  was,  being  connected  with 
a  mere  human  society  calling  itself  the  Church, 
but  not  having  the  grace  of  the  Sacraments 
or  tbe  divine  authority  of  Christ's  Holy 
Church,  they  spent  a  few  laborious  but  in- 
effectual years  in  that  great  and  wonderful 
field  for  Christian  effort  and  then  returned,  a 
complete  failure,  much  as  the  celebrated  Bishop 
Southgate  returned  from  Constantinople,  to 
which  he  had  gone  with  a  great  flourish  of 
trumpets  and  loud  professions  of  the  grand 
work  of  conversion  and  reconciliation  he  was 
to  effect  among  the  Greek  and  Oriental  Chris- 
tians and  the  heretics,  Turks  and  infidels. 
How  weak  and  puny  are  the  efforts  of  all  the 
Protestant  denominations  to  convert  the 
heathen ! ' ' 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  his  ''Dear  Brother 
and  Sisters"  at  Utica,  Ohio,  dated  Aug.  27th, 
1837,  therefore  toward  the  close  of  his  Junior 
year,  Henry  writes  as  follows: 

"This  has  been  a  day  of  uncommon  interest 
with  us.  We  have  had  a  Sunday  School  jubi- 
lee. The  several  schools  under  the  care  of  our 
S.  S.  Association,  thirteen  in  number,  assembled 
to  hear  a  sermon  from  the  Bishop.  The  result 
altogether  surpassed  our  most  sanguine  expec- 
tations.    There  was  a  very  large  congregation, 


78  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

parents  and  scholars  both,  and  we  trust  an  im- 
pression was  made  which  will  not  soon  be  lost, 
— that  an  impulse  was  given  to  the  cause  of  S. 
Schools  in  our  vicinity  not  easily  estimated. 
The  Bishop  was  delighted — talks  of  the  twelve 
tribes  coming  up  to  the  temple  to  worship. 
There  are  about  eight  hundred  scholars  in  our 
school,  and  tlie  prejudice  which  has  formerly 
been  manifested — and  frequently  in  a  most  vio- 
lent degree — is  fast  vanishing  away,  if  not  al- 
most entirely  disappeared.  Our  congregation 
was  a  heterogeneous  collection  of  all  denomi- 
nations. I  shall  expect  to  see  you  at  Com- 
mencement.    Good  night. 

"Your  affectionate, 

''Henry.'' 

At  the  close  of  his  college  course,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1838,  Henry  received  the  degree  of  Bache- 
lor of  Arts,  with  the  liighest  standing  in  a  class 
of  only  five.  His  graduation  speech  was  on 
the  somewhat  arid  subject  of  Metaphysics.  He 
advocated  with  great  ardor  the  claims  of  this 
science  of  all  sciences  to  study  and  considera- 
tion. But  considering  how  very  jejune  must 
have  been  his  acquaintance  with  any  branch  of 
philosophy,  a  subject  most  imperfectly  treated 
in  non-Catholic  American  colleges  even  at  the 
present  day,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  his  en- 
thusiasm was  to  any  extent  founded  on  personal 


GEADUATION— ENGAGEMENT       79 

knowledge.  Another  incident  of  a  more  inter- 
esting- kind  marked  this  commencement  clay. 
This  was  the  first  meeting  with  his  future  wife, 
Cj'nthia  Cowles.  The  commencement  w^as  al- 
ways a  time  of  excitement  and  bustle  on  the 
Hill  of  Gambler.  The  elite  of  Western  society 
from  the  surrounding  towns,  Mt.  Vernon, 
Worthiugton,  and  even  as  far  as  Columbus, 
graced  the  scene  with  their  presence  and 
crowded  the  chapel,  while  numberless  carriages 
and  conveyances  of  all  kinds  thronged  the  ap- 
proaches. Among  these  came  Miss  Cynthia 
from  her  home  at  Worthiugton,  escorted  by  her 
brother  Havens  Cowles  and  her  cousin  Douglas 
Case  who  intended  to  take  home  their  cousin, 
Fitch  James  Matthews,  a  student.  The  young 
couple  were  introduced;  and  although  Mr. 
Eichards  declares  that  he  did  not  fall  in  love 
at  first  sight,  having  now  gotten  pretty  well 
beyond  that  stage  and  having  acquired  some 
discretion,  still  an  impression  was  made  on 
his  somewhat  susceptible  heart. 

William  Eichards,  though  five  years  younger 
than  his  brother,  was  graduated  in  the  same 
class.  He  remained  another  year  at  college, 
devoting  himself  to  the  study  of  philosophy, 
history  and  political  science,  under  the  direc- 
tion principally  of  Dr.  Sparrow,  and  took  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  course  before  go- 
ing  East   to    study   law   at   Yale   University. 


80  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Henry  determined  to  spend  the  year  at  home, 
with  the  purpose  of  taking  some  rest  and  rec- 
reation and  of  traveling  to  some  extent  out 
of  the  very  i)rovincial  atmosphere  and  some- 
what raw  civilization  of  a  new  western  state 
before  commencing  his  theological  studies. 
In  September  of  this  year,  he  began  a  trip  to 
the  East,  making  the  journey  over  the  moun- 
tains by  stage  as  usual,  but  at  Ellicott  City, 
Md.,  meeting  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railway, 
the  first  built  in  the  United  States  and  just 
completed  as  far  as  that  point.  In  after  life, 
Mr.  Richards  often  spoke  of  the  trepidation, 
almost  amounting  to  terror,  with  which  the 
travelers  looked  on  the  puffing  engine  and  took 
their  seats  reluctantly  in  the  cars.  Both 
engine  and  train  were  of  course  trifling  affairs, 
almost  toys,  when  compared  witli  our  modern 
railway  equipment.  At  several  places  in  the 
road,  where  the  grades  were  steep,  the  engine 
was  replaced  by  mules.  In  the  course  of  this 
journey,  Henry  visited  all  the  principal  cities, 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston, 
&c.,  and  paid  a  visit  to  his  father's  relatives  at 
New  London. 

Returning  to  Granville  with  a  mind  presum- 
ably widened  by  contact  with  the  great  world, 
Henry  Richards  accepted  an  engagement  to 
teach  vocal  music  during  the  winter  to  the 
young  ladies  of  the  Seminary,  which  had  just 


GRADUATION— ENGAGEMENT       81 

passed  under  control  of  the  Episcopal  Clmrcli 
and  had  been  placed  in  cliarge  of  a  Mr.  Mans- 
field French.  In  his  notes,  Mr.  Richards  mar- 
vels at  his  own  temerity.  He  bids  us  imagine 
a  young  gentleman,  modest  even  to  bashful- 
ness,  and  just  out  of  college,  standing  before 
a  roomful  of  young  ladies,  the  mark  for  a 
shower  of  darts  from  glancing  eyes,  while  with 
chalk,  blackboard  and  voice,  he  makes  desper- 
ate efforts  to  conduct  them  through  the  mys- 
teries of  the  gamut.  One  pair  of  these  bright 
eyes  had  begun,  he  confesses,  to  shed  upon  his 
heart  a  mild,  sweet  radiance  as  attractive  as  it 
was  dangerous  to  his  peace  of  mind.  They  be- 
longed to  the  same  young  lady  whom  he  had  met 
at  commencement  and  who  had  come  to  the  new 
Episcopal  Seminary  at  Granville  to  continue 
her  education.  But  Henry,  who  had  learned 
prudence,  was  not  going  to  allow  his  heart  to 
carry  him  away  rashly.  With  businesslike 
deliberation,  he  made  diligent  inquiries  about 
the  young  lady  from  those  who  knew  her  well 
at  home.  They  testified  that  she  had  every 
good  and  estimable  quality,  that  she  was  a  sec- 
ond mother  to  her  younger  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, who  in  the  frequent  illnesses  of  their 
mother  looked  to  Cynthia  as  the  eldest  daughter 
for  guidance  and  control,  that  she  was  good, 
kind,  amiable,  sensible,  and  in  every  way  cal- 
culated   to    make    an    exemplary   clergyman's 


82  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

wife.  His  chief  confidant  and  counselor  seems 
to  have  been  his  younger  sister,  Belle,  who 
happened  to  be  CjTithia  's  most  intimate  friend 
at  school.  She  confirmed  fully  all  that  had 
been  said  in  commendation  of  her  companion, 
and  cheerily  bade  her  brother  ''Go  ahead!" 
And  go  ahead  he  did  without  delay,  though  he 
declares  that  to  be  a  rough  way  of  expressing 
the  modest,  deliberate  manner  in  which  he  car- 
ried on  the  siege.  When  the  girls  of  the  Sem- 
inary attended  a  party,  he  invariably  saw  her 
home.  When  they  were  taken  for  a  sleigh-ride 
or  a  drive  on  some  holidav,  he  was  at  her  side. 
He  put  up  a  swing  in  the  grove  on  the  hill,  and 
took  no  interest  in  swinging  anyone  but  his 
sister  or  her  friend.  School  closed  in  the 
spring  and  Cynthia  departed  for  her  home  at 
Worthington,  only  to  receive  very  shortly  a 
letter  which  took  her  by  surprise.  It  contained 
a  declaration  of  love  and  a  proposition  of  mar- 
riage when  circumstances  should  permit.  That 
letter  was  a  remarkable  specimen  of  composi- 
tion, costing  its  writer  much  thought  and  labor, 
but  it  brought  only  a  refusal.  The  girl's  par- 
ents were  not  willing.  The  mother  particularly 
was  not  satisfied  to  see  her  favorite  daughter 
exposed  to  the  inconveniences,  discomforts 
and  comparative  poverty  to  which  the  wife  of 
a  young  and  struggling  clergyman  would  prob- 
ably be  subject.     But  the  young  lover,  though 


GEADUATION— ENGAGEMENT       83 

disappointed,  was  not  discouraged.  He  saw 
plainly,  reading  between  the  lines  of  the  re- 
fusal, that  the  daughter's  affections  were  his, 
while  through  obedience  and  submissiveness 
she  wrote  according  to  the  decision  of  her 
more  worldly-minded  parents.  He  refused 
to  give  up,  and  was  finally  rewarded  by  a 
reversal  of  the  unfavorable  decision.  From 
that  time  he  corresponded  regularly  with  Miss 
Cowles,  and  awaited  only  the  completion  of  his 
studies  to  make  her  his  wife. 


CHAPTER  V 

BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT 

Before  attempting  to  trace  the  path  on  which 
his  unflinching  loyalty  to  truth  and  reason  led 
our  young  seminarian  until  it  ultimately 
brought  him  home  to  the  great  Dwelling  Place 
of  all  religious  truth,  we  must  go  back  to  give 
some  idea  of  the  state  of  religious  belief  in  his 
day  and  the  intellectual  forces  that  were  at 
work  around  him. 

There  exists  a  popular  impression  that  the 
great  movement  of  return  to  the  Catholic 
Church  which  has  been  so  marked  a  feature  of 
the  nineteenth  century  began  Avitli  the  Trac- 
tarians  in  England  and  owed  to  them  almost 
exclusively  its  origin  and  development,  not  only 
in  England,  but  in  all  English-speaking  coun- 
tries, and  even  throughout  the  world.  But  a 
very  slight  degree  of  reading  and  study,  espe- 
cially now  that  the  first  impetus  of  the  move- 
ment has  spent  itself,  will  suffice  to  show  that 
this  view  is  quite  erroneous.  The  Oxford  Move- 
ment is  now  seen  to  have  been  only  an  incident, 
though  a  most  important  incident,  in  a  far  more 
widespread  drama;  it  was  only  one  current, 

84 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT         85 

though  a  very  powerful  current,  in  the  great 
stream  which  was  slowly  but  surely  setting 
back  toward  the  sea  from  which  it  had  come. 
The  reaction  was  evident  in  several  countries 
of  Europe,  particularly  Germany  and  France, 
even  before  the  French  Revolution  had  fairly 
exhausted  itself.  The  first  movers  in  the  re- 
action were  not  always  Catholics,  nor  scarcely 
even  Christians.  In  Germany,  much  may  be 
attributed  to  Herder  and  Goethe,  and  a  little 
later,  Schiller.  They  were  poets,  lovers  of 
beauty.  True  religion  is  always  poetical;  for 
poetry  is  the  language  of  emotion  and  of  the 
ideal  clothed  in  concrete  forms.  In  Protestant- 
ism these  men  found  neither  poetry  nor  beauty ; 
they  discovered  them  in  the  Catholic  Church. 
They  expressed  their  admiration  freely,  and 
made  use  in  their  works  of  the  noble  and  ele- 
vated ideas  thus  gained,  and  so  contributed  to 
the  spread  of  Catholic  sentiments  while  them- 
selves remaining  Eationalists  or  Pantheists. 
The  study  of  mediaeval  art — poetry,  sculpture 
and  painting,  but  above  all,  of  the  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, with  the  monuments  of  which  Germany 
is  so  abundantly  supplied — led  minds  insensi- 
bly to  the  great  Church  which  had  been  the  in- 
spiration and  the  guardian  of  these  master- 
pieces. Added  to  these  elements,  was  a  more 
impartial  study  of  the  history  of  the  middle 
ages.     The    distinguished    historian,    Leopold 


86  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Friedrich,  Count  Stolberg,  came  into  the 
Church  in  1800  and  by  his  History  of  the  Reli- 
gion of  Jesus  Christ  was  mainly  instrumental  in 
the  conversion  of  Prince  Adolphus  of  Mecklen- 
berg.  In  1805  came  the  conversion  of  Fried- 
rich  von  Schlegel  and  his  gifted  wife.  Schle- 
gel's  influence  was  veiy  great,  and  he  has  been 
called  the  Messiah  of  the  German  Eomantic 
School  of  literature.  His  works  on  the  History 
of  Literature  and  the  Philosophy  of  History 
are  still  of  great  value.  Overbeck  the  artist, 
with  a  number  of  friends,  came  in  about  1814 
and  founded  a  new  Cliristian  school  of  painting. 
The  two  brothers  Veit  (painters)  were  con- 
verted Jews.  Klinkowstrone,  Wilhelm  and  Ru- 
dolf Schadow  (the  latter  a  sculptor),  Vogelstein, 
Schnorr,  Platner,  and  Miiller,  were  members  of 
this  remarkable  aggregation.  Joseph  Gorres 
and  Clemens  Brentano,  though  born  and  bap- 
tized Catholics,  were  practically  converts  to 
the  Faith,  as  was  also  the  Princess  Gallit- 
zin,  a  German  lady  married  in  Russia.  The 
poet  Werner,  the  poetess  Luise  Hensel,  many 
members  of  sovereign  houses  and  of  the  nobil- 
ity and  aristocracy,  jurists  and  historians, 
swelled  the  ranks  and  even  ministers  of  reli- 
gion were  not  wanting.  In  the  Protestant 
cantons  of  Switzerland,  the  conversion  in  1820 
of  Karl  Ludwig  von  Haller,  a  Councilor  of 
State  of  Berne,  and  a  political  writer  of  Euro- 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT         87 

pean  fame,  followed  by  the  publication  of  his 
letter  to  his  family  giving  an  account  of  his 
step,  caused  a  great  sensation,  though  it  did 
not  give  rise  to  any  definite  local  movement  of 
return.  Mohler's  Symholik,  one  of  the  great- 
est works  of  the  nineteenth  century,  though 
rather  a  fruit  than  a  cause  of  the  movement, 
yet  contributed  most  powerfully  after  its  ap- 
pearance to  sustaining  and  spreading  the  truth. 
The  conversion  of  the  historians  Hurter, 
Gfrorer,  Onno  Klopp  and  others,  was  also  one 
of  the  later  fruits  of  the  reaction. 

In  France,  the  Faith  had  never  been  extin- 
guished. It  only  remained  quiescent  under  the 
ashes  heaped  upon  it  by  the  Revolution  and  the 
Terror.  As  soon  as  partial  freedom  was  re- 
stored under  Napoleon,  it  flamed  forth  again. 
Churches  were  opened,  seminaries  reestab- 
lished, religious  congregations  founded,  and — ■ 
best  sign  of  all  of  the  presence  of  an  ardent 
faith — colleges  for  the  training  of  priests  for 
foreign  missions  were  put  in  operation.  Al- 
though compelled  to  struggle  with  revolutionary 
hate  on  one  side  and  bureaucratic  oppression, 
scarcely  less  atheistic  and  fatal,  on  the  other, 
the  Church  showed  wonderful  vitality,  and  the 
result  was  a  powerful  reaction  in  favor  of  re- 
ligion. To  give  anything  like  a  list  of*  the 
converts  would  be  impossible.  Rendered  at- 
tractive to  the  i^opular  mind  by  the  genius  of 


88  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Chateaubriand  (himself  a  returned  wanderer 
from  the  fold)  in  the  graceful  and  fervid  imag- 
ery of  his  Geiiiiis  of  Christianiti/,  The  Martyrs, 
and  Atala,  the  movement  was  also  commended 
to  the  philosophic  and  doctrinaire  spirit  of  the 
times  by  the  scholarly  discussions  of  Joseph  de 
Maistre  and  Bonald,  while  it  was  carried  into 
the  field  of  sociology'  and  politics  by  Lamennais, 
Montalembert,  Lacordaire,  and  their  brilliant 
associates  in  the  founding  and  conducting  of 
L'Avenir.  Frederick  Ozanam,  in  his  eloquent 
lectures  at  the  Sorbonne,  replete  with  Catholic 
views  of  history,  philosophy  and  art,  and  still 
more  in  his  charitable  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de 
Paul,  which  soon  spread  throughout  the  world,, 
exercised  an  influence  which  hitherto  perhaps 
has  not  been  sufficiently  appreciated.  The  re- 
establishment  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  return  of 
other  religious  orders,  with  their  enormous 
labors  in  missions  and  Catholic  education,  were 
of  course  a  most  powerful  factor. 

In  England,  the  great  reaction  was  less  felt. 
Still,  the  way  was  prepared.  Thoreau-Dangin, 
in  his  recent  work,  La  Renaissance  Catholique 
en  Angleterre  au  XIX  Siecle,  describes  the  vari- 
ous phases  of  religious  thought  in  England 
after  Waterloo.  ''Some,"  he  says,  "felt  the 
need  of  a  return  to  Christianity;  a  certain  num- 
ber of  writers  seconded  this  reaction  or  felt  its 
influence  and  accomplished  in  England  a  task 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT         89 

analogous  to  that  of  Chateaubriand  in  France, 
and  Gorres  in  Germany.  Such  under  different 
aspects  were  Walter  Scott,  Coleridge,  Words- 
worth, Southey. " 

The  American  Colonies,  settled  as  they  were 
so  largely  by  Presbyterians,  Independents,  and 
representatives  of  all  the  Dissenting  bodies  that 
had  waged  such  violent  wars  in  England,  were 
slow  to  be  aifected  by  the  new  tendency.  Up 
to  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  a  spirit 
of  fierce  bigotry  and  hatred  of  the  Church  seems 
to  have  been  almost  universal.  Even  in  Mary- 
land, originally  settled  by  Catholics  imder  royal 
protection  and  designed  as  a  refuge  for  Chris- 
tians of  every  denomination,  the  Mother  Church 
had  been  reduced  to  a  state  of  permanent  legal 
persecution.  No  sooner,  in  fact,  had  the  Puri- 
tans of  New  England  accepted  the  brotherly  in- 
vitation of  the  Lord  Proprietor  to  settle  in  the 
regions  subject  to  his  government,  under  the 
segis  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  than  they 
seized  the  first  opportunity  to  arrogate  to  them- 
selves supreme  power  and  to  place  their  late 
generous  hosts  under  the  ban  of  oppression. 
Priests  were  unable  to  remain  in  the  colony, 
and  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
were  compelled  to  take  refuge  on  the  further 
side  of  the  Potomac,  in  Virginia,  where  they 
remained  in  close  hiding,  making  only  stealthy 


90  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

visits  to  their  flocks  to  sustain  them  in  the 
faith.  At  a  later  date,  after  the  Restoration 
in  England,  the  Anglican  authorities  in  the 
colony  showed  themselves  almost  as  full  of 
hatred  as  the  Puritans,  and  exercised  continual 
acts  of  repression  and  persecution.  Shortly 
prior  to  the  American  Revolution,  the  letters  of 
the  elder  Charles  Carroll  to  his  son,  the  Signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  are  full  of 
complaints  of  the  double  taxation  and  other 
disabilities  to  which  Catholics  were  subject  in 
their  own  home.  This  injustice,  with  the  abso- 
lute prohibition  of  separate  public  churches  or 
chapels  for  Catholics,  persisted  to  the  end  of 
the  Colonial  era. 

In  the  other  colonies,  with  the  exception  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  state  of  popular  feeling  was 
in  general  no  better.  Prejudice  against  the 
Church  was  so  bitter  that  it  extended  to  every- 
thing remotely  connected  with  her  doctrines  or 
ceremonial.  So  general,  for  instance,  was  the 
Puritan  hatred  of  Prelacy,  that  even  the  Angli- 
cans were  fain  to  yield  to  it.  Dr.  Tiffany,  in 
his  History  of  the  Protestant  Eplscoiml 
Church  in  the  United  States,  says  (p.  274) : 
''The  intense  dread  of  Puritans  and  Presby- 
terians (in  regard  to  the  introduction  of  Bishops 
in  the  Anglican  Church  in  America)  we  learn 
from  their  own  statements.  In  1768,  the  Massa- 
chusetts House  of  Representatives,  addressing 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT         91 

its  London  agent,  wrote  by  tlie  hand  of  Samuel 
Adams  as  follows:  'The  establishment  of  a 
Protestant  episcopate  in  America  is  very  zeal- 
ously contended  for.  .  .  .  We  hope  in  God  such 
an  establishment  may  never  take  place  in  Amer- 
ica ;  we  desire  you  would  strenuously  oppose  it. 
The  revenue  raised  in  America,  for  aught  wo 
can  tell,  may  be  as  constitutionally  applied  to- 
ward the  sujDport  of  prelacy  as  of  soldiers  or 
pensioners.'  " 

It  was  only  in  1784,  after  the  revolution,  that 
the  first  Anglican  Bishop,  Dr.  Samuel  Seabury 
of  Connecticut,  was  consecrated  for  the  United 
States,  and  this  irregularly  by  the  nonjuring 
Bishops  of  Scotland.  "White  and  Provoost, 
more  regailarly  presented,  received  their  orders 
from  the  English  church  in  1787.  In  spite  of 
the  two  centuries  of  Anglican  domination  in 
Virginia,  the  first  Bishop  of  that  diocese,  Dr. 
Madison,  received  his  office  simultaneously  with 
the  Catholic  Bishop,  John  Carroll,  in  1790,  both 
going  to  England  for  consecration  and  return- 
ing in  the  same  ship. 

The  resolution  of  Congress  in  1774,  protesting 
against  the  Quebec  Act  (or  the  continuance  by 
the  British  government  of  the  existing  condition 
of  the  Catholic  Church  in  French  Canada)  and 
its  two  addresses  on  the  subject,  one  to  the  In- 
habitants of  the  Colonies  and  the  other  to  The 


92  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

People  of  Great  Britain,  undoubtedly  had  a 
powerful  effect  in  alienating  the  inhabitants  of 
that  colony  from  the  cause  of  the  American 
Eevolution.  But  that  war  effected  a  great 
change.  The  French  nation,  then  at  least  nom- 
inally Catholic,  gave  to  the  revolted  colonies 
most  effective  aid,  without  which  it  is  douljtful 
whether  thev  would  ever  have  achieved  their  in- 
dependence.  Catholic  officers  of  French  origin 
volunteered  for  service  in  the  Continental 
Army,  like  the  lamented  and  skillful  artillery 
Captain,  Dohickey  Arundel,  who  was  killed  in 
his  first  battle.  A  considerable  number  of  Irish 
Catholics  were  also  enrolled  and  were  found, 
as  always  and  everj^where,  to  be  heroic  fighters. 
This  phase  of  Revolutionary  histoiy  has  been 
carefully  chronicled  by  Martin  J.  Griffin,  in  his 
three  volumes  on  Catholics  and  the  American 
Revolution.  Among  the  most  prominent  of 
these  heroes  was  Stephen  Moylan,  of  Philadel- 
phia, brother  of  the  Catholic  Bishop  of  Cork, 
who  became  Commissary  General  of  the  Ameri- 
can forces  and  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Wash- 
ington. 

The  old  Catholic  families  of  Maryland  were 
all,  it  would  seem,  heartily  in  accord  with  the 
other  colonists  in  their  struggle  for  freedom. 
One  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  their  members, 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  signed  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  thereby  risking,  as 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT        93 

was  said,  the  most  ample  estates  owned  by 
any  one  proprietor  in  the  colony.  His  relative, 
John  Carroll,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
until  its  suppression  and  destined  in  after  years 
to  be  the  first  Catholic  Bishop  in  the  United 
States,  accompanied  Charles  Carroll  and  the 
other  two  Commissioners,  Samuel  Chase  and 
Benjamin  Franklin,  to  Canada,  for  the  purpose 
of  doing  away  with  the  unfavorable  effect  of  the 
Congressional  protests  of  1774  and  inducing  the 
Canadian  people  to  join  with  the  revolted 
Colonies. 

In  the  Northwest,  a  Catholic  priest  of  French 
descent,  the  Rev.  Peter  Gibault,  by  his  prompt 
and  bold  action  and  commanding  personal  in- 
fluence, won  to  the  American  cause,  almost  sin- 
gle handed,  an  extensive  and  important  terri- 
tory, populated  in  great  part  by  Catholics. 

All  these  facts  dictated  to  the  new  Eepublic, 
both  from  policy  and  gratitude,  a  laying  aside 
of  the  old  prejudice  and  hatred.  Washington's 
reproof  to  his  soldiers,  near  Boston  in  1775,  for- 
bidding the  usual  insulting  celebration  of  Guy 
Fawkes '  day,  and  his  gracious  reply  to  the  Ad- 
dress of  his  Roman  Catholic  fellow  citizens  in 
1790,  were  the  keynote  of  the  new  policy  of  fair- 
ness and  friendliness.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
the  few  and  scattered  professors  of  the  Catholic 
religion  found  their  situation  vastly  improved. 
On  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  they  were 


94  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

guaranteed  equal  rights,  so  far  as  concerned  the 
central  government,  though  long  and  persistent 
efforts,  not  ended  until  our  own  day,  were 
needed  in  order  to  remove  the  disabilities  im- 
posed by  individual  States. 

But  the  process  of  enlightenment  and  soften- 
ing was  necessarily  very  slow.  Here  and  there 
throughout  the  States,  a  few  noble  and  faithful 
souls  were  led  by  some  special  grace  of  God  to 
break  througli  tlie  crust  of  ignorance  and  inborn 
prejudice  and  to  emerge  into  the  full  light  of 
Faith  and  Truth.  Lionel  Brittain,  a  church 
warden  of  Philadelphia,  was  received  into  the 
Church,  with  his  son  and  several  other  persons, 
as  early  as  1707.  The  Eev.  John  Thayer,  a 
minister  of  Boston,  was  converted  and  received 
into  the  Church  in  Rome  in  the  year  1783.  Be- 
coming a  priest,  he  served  efficiently  in  his 
native  city  and  elsewhere.  Early  in  the  eight- 
eenth century,  Thomas  Willcox,  a  manufac- 
turer of  paper  at  Ivy  Mills,  Pennsylvania,  came 
into  the  Church.  His  descendants,  and  espe- 
cially his  son,  Mark  Willcox,  and  the  latter 's 
saintly  convert  wife,  exercised  a  powerful  and 
almost  patriarchal  influence  in  building  up 
Catholicity  in  Philadelphia  and  the  surrounding 
region.  Judge  James  Twyman  of  Kentucky 
yielded  to  the  zeal  of  Father  Badin  about  the 
year  1800.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Seton,  who  made 
her  submission  in  1805,  became  the  Foundress 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT        95 

of  tlie  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  United  States. 
The  famous  Barber  family  of  New  Hampshire, 
which  included  two  ministers,  father  and  son, 
made  their  way  to  the  Truth  in  1816  and  1818,  in 
spite  of  the  complete  isolation  from  every  Cath- 
olic influence  in  which  they  lived.  This  family 
gave  to  the  Church  prelates,  priests  and  nuns, 
including  the  Et.  Eev.  John  Tyler,  first  Bishop 
of  Hartford,  and  Samuel  Barber,  S.  J.,  Rector 
of  Georgetown  College,  both  of  whom  were 
grandsons  of  Daniel  Barber.  In  1807,  the  Rev. 
John  Richards  of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  prob- 
ably a  distant  relative  of  the  subject  of  this 
memoir,  made  a  journey  to  Canada,  with  the 
purpose,  as  tradition  asserts,  of  attempting  to 
convert  to  Protestantism  the  Sulpitian  Fathers 
of  Montreal.  But  matters  fell  out  contrariwise 
to  his  intention.  He  was  converted  by  them  and 
received  into  the  Church  on  October  31st  of  the 
same  year.  Entering  the  Sulpitian  community, 
he  was  ordained  priest  in  1813  and  was  ap- 
pointed Econome  (bursar)  of  the  establishment. 
In  1817,  he  gathered  together  the  few  and  scat- 
tered Irish  Catholics  in  Montreal  and  estab- 
lished the  first  English-speaking  congregation 
in  that  city.  His  death  occurred  July  23d,  1847, 
and  was  due  to  typhus  fever  contracted  in  at- 
tending the  sick  among  the  famine-stricken  Irish 
emigrants.  He  was  the  fourth  victim  among 
the  Sulpitians  engaged  in  the  same  heroic  work 


96  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

of  charity.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  accord- 
ing to  Shea,  another  priest  of  the  same  family 
name,  the  Very  Rev.  B.  Richards,  presumably 
a  convert,  was  one  of  the  two  Vicars  General 
of  New  Orleans  in  1832,  and  died  of  cholera  in 
the  same  year.  Major  Noble,  of  Brownsville, 
Pa.,  with  his  wife  and  family  (1807),  Dr.  Henry 
Clarke  Bowen  Greene,  of  Saco,  Me.  (1824),  and 
the  Rev.  Calvin  White,  of  Derby,  Conn,  (about 
1828),  are  among  the  most  noted  of  these  early 
converts.  Col.  Dodge,  of  Pompey,  N.  Y.,  was 
received,  together  with  his  wife,  in  1836,  and 
by  the  year  1839  there  were  no  less  than  nine- 
teen converts  at  that  point  brought  in  by  his 
influence  and  example.  James  Frederick 
Wood,  a  banker,  destined  to  be  the  Catholic 
Archbishop  of  Philadelphia,  made  his  submis- 
sion in  1836.  The  Rev.  Maximiliam  Oertel,  a 
Lutheran  Minister  sent  to  this  country  to  in- 
vestigate the  sjjiritual  condition  of  the  German 
inunigrants,  found  here  the  gift  of  Catholic 
Faith  and  was  received  March  15th,  1840,  in 
St.  Marv's  Church,  New  York  Citv.  These 
conversions,  and  many  more  like  them,  were 
mostly  isolated  and  could  not  be  said  to  consti- 
tute any  movement. 

But  meantime  many  forces  were  beginning 
to  operate  to  bring  to  the  American  people  in 
general  a  clearer  knowledge  of  that  Mother 
Church    whom    they    so    blindly    hated.     The 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT        97 

exiled  French  priests  who  came  to  our  shores 
contributed  largely  by  their   exalted  virtues, 
learning  and  refinement  of  manners  to  modify 
the  views  of  those  who  had  been  brought  up  to 
believe  all  priests  monsters.    Matignon,  Chev- 
erus,  Brute,  Flaget,  Dubois,  the  Sulpitians  of 
Baltimore,  and  many  others  won  not  only  the 
devoted  affection  of  their  Catholic  flocks,  but 
the  profound  respect  and  esteem  of  reputable 
Protestants.     ImmigTation,     especially     from 
Catholic  Ireland,   increased  rapidly;  and  the 
victims  of  English  injustice,  poor  in  all  else, 
brought  with  them  a  profound  knowledge  of 
their  faith  and  a  devoted  zeal  for  its  defense 
and     propagation.     Moreover,     the     general 
European    movement    toward    Catholic    ideas 
could  not  be  without  its  effect  and  its  counter- 
part in  America.     As   yet   this   was   scarcely 
more  than  a  groping  or  a  blind  yearning  for 
something  higher  and  more  in  conformity  with 
human   feelings    than   the    stern   and    narrow 
severity  of  Calvinistic  Protestantism.     As  the 
furious  fanaticism  of  their  fathers  began  to  be 
forgotten,    sectaries    were    pleased    with    the 
fuller  and  statelier  service  of  the  Episcopalian 
Prayer  Book,  and  accepted  readily  the  frag- 
ments of  Catholic  Truth  preserved  in  the  An- 
glican system.     Even  to  the  present  day,  this 
influx  from  Presbyterianism  and  other  Evan- 
gelical sects  to  the  Episcopalian  body  has  not 


98  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

ceased  but  seems  to  be  steadily  increasing;  and 
it  doubtless  constitutes  one  step  in  the  general 
progress  toward  Catholicity.  Instances  were 
Mr.  Eichards'  own  father  and  his  associates  in 
Granville,  Bishop  Chase,  and  hosts  of  others. 
Meantime,  the  Episcopalians  themselves  were 
obe^dng  the  same  impulse  and  were  almost  in- 
sensibly moving  upward.  No  doubt  in  many 
cases  this  tendency  was  more  a  matter  of  senti- 
ment than  of  positive  doctrine.  The  great 
Catholic  system  corresponds  closely  in  its  de- 
votional practices  to  the  needs  of  the  human 
heart  and  fulfills  the  spiritual  demands  of  man's 
whole  nature.  Hence,  when  the  centrifugal 
force  of  prejudice  is  removed,  religious-minded 
souls  tend  naturally,  by  a  sort  of  spiritual 
gravitation,  to  this  center  of  Truth  and  Holi- 
ness. It  is  a  remarkal)le  fact  that  this  tendency 
toward  the  resumption  of  Catholic  ideas  and 
feelings  is  now  very  general  among  those  most 
widely  separated  from  the  Church  in  doctrine. 
Lights  and  flowers  and  stained  glass  windows 
are  found  in  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
churches,  while  Unitarians  are  among  the  read- 
iest to  appreciate  the  aesthetic  and  to  some  ex- 
tent even  the  devotional  side  of  Catholicity. 
Presbyterians,  as  the  writer  knows  from  ob- 
servation, will  attend  the  service  of  the  Way 
of  the  Cross  and  find  nothing  but  what  is  touch- 
ing and  attractive  in  that  which  their  ancestors 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT        99 

would  have  pursued  Avitli  savage  scorn. 
Prayers  for  the  dead  appeal  to  their  tenderest 
feelings,  and  even  the  Invocation  of  the  Saints 
and  the  honor  rendered  to  the  Blessed  Aargin 
are  losing  their  terrors,  thanks  in  part  no 
donht  to  the  revival  of  popular  interest  in  Art, 
which  was  frozen  and  stifled  by  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

But  almost  all  of  this  amelioration  was  as 
yet  in  the  future.  Indeed  even  at  the  present 
day  this  process  is  by  no  means  complete,  and 
Catholics  are  still  often  disheartened,  in  public 
and  social  life,  by  the  load  of  unreasoning  and 
bitter  dislike  which  they  are  compelled  to  bear. 
Particularly  is  this  the  case  in  smaller  towns 
and  villages,  where  Protestantism  still  main- 
tains something  of  its  old  positiveness  and 
vigor.  Decadent  religions  are  at  all  times 
found  to  retain  most  persistently  their  vigor  and 
characteristics  in  localities  far  from  the  great 
centers  of  life  and  discussion,  just  as  the  pagani, 
in  early  Christian  centuries,  were  the  last 
survivors,  in  the  pagi  or  villages,  of  the 
worshipers  of  these  heathen  gods  who  had 
been  driven  with  laughter  and  scorn  from  the 
cities.  That  this  principle  is  verified  in  the 
present  history  of  Protestantism  in  the  United 
States  must  be  plain  to  anyone  who  has  had 
experience  of  both  city  and  country  life. 

Naturally  therefore  the  atmosphere  of  the 


100  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

country  districts  of  Ohio  in  the  early  days  was 
not  favorable  to  the  acquirement  of  truth  con- 
cerning the  Church.  Ignorance  more  dense  or 
prejudice  more  fanatical  it  would  probably  be 
difficult  to  find.  As  in  most  agricultural  dis- 
tricts, the  influx  of  Catholic  immigrants  and 
the  consequent  spread  of  Catholic  ideas  were 
comparatively  slow.  When  the  saintly  Domin- 
ican Father,  Edward  Fenwick,  afterward 
Bishop  of  Cincinnati,  established  the  missions 
of  his  order  in  Ohio  and  built  the  first  perma- 
nent Catholic  church  in  that  State  in  1818,  the 
number  of  Catholics  was  so  insignificant  as  to 
be  almost  unnoticeable.  The  first  church  in 
Columbus  was  not  erected  until  1838,  the  very 
year  of  Mr.  Eichards'  graduation  from  Ken- 
yon,  and  even  then  was  not  supplied  with  a 
resident  i^astor.  Mass  was  said  occasionally 
by  a  priest  who  came  from  a  distance,  probably 
from  Chillicothe.  But  the  congregation  was 
too  few  in  number,  too  poor  and  despised,  to 
attract  any  great  attention;  and  the  Protestant 
public  continued  to  be  weighed  down  by  the 
inherited  ignorance  and  prejudice  in  regard  to 
the  Church,  which  later  broke  out  in  the  famous 
"Know  Nothing"  movement. 

About  the  year  1826,  began  in  England  that 
remarkable  ferment  of  minds  and  consciences, 
afterward  known  as  the  Tractarian  Movement. 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT       101 

It  commenced  no  one  knew  how  and  came  no 
one  knew  whence.  It  was  as  though  the  Crea- 
tive Spirit  again  brooded  over  the  face  of  the 
deep,  bringing  order  and  beauty  into  what  was 
formless  and  void,  and  quickening  into  germi- 
nation the  seeds  of  life  there  latent.  As  an  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  agitation,  it  cannot  be 
said  to  have  originated  with  those  who  became 
its  leading  champions,  Hurrell  Froude,  Keble, 
Ward,  Newman  and  Pusey,  nor  was  it  confined 
to  their  immediate  associates  and  followers. 
Dean  Church,  in  his  Oxford  Movement,  has  the 
following  remarks  on  the  general  movement 
for  reform  of  the  Church  of  England  at  this 
period:  ''Doubtless  many  thought  and  felt 
like  them  about  the  perils  which  beset  the 
Church  and  religion.  .  .  .  Others  besides  Keble 
and  Froude  and  Newman  were  seriously  con- 
sidering what  could  best  be  done  to  arrest  the 
current  which  was  running  strong  against  the 
Church,  and  discussing  schemes  of  resistance 
and  defense.  Others  were  stirring  up  them-, 
selves  and  their  brethren  to  meet  new  emer- 
gencies, to  respond  to  the  new  call.  Some  of 
these  were  in  communication  with  the  Oriel 
men  and  ultimately  took  part  with  them  in  or- 
ganizing vigorous  measures.  But  it  was  not 
until  Mr.  Newman  made  up  his  mind  to  force 
on  the  public  mind,  in  a  way  which  could  not  be 


102  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

evaded,  the  great  article  of  the  Creed — 'I  be- 
lieve in  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church' — 
that  the  movement  began."  ^ 

The  Rev.  J.  H.  Overton,  D.  D.,  in  his  work, 
The  Anglican  Revival,  points  out  that  Dean 
Hook  "was  firmly  established  in  his  theologi- 
cal position,  which  was  in  the  main  the  same 
as  that  of  the  early  Tractarians,  long  before 
and  quite  independently  of,  the  Oxford  Move- 
ment, and  when  all  the  prime  movers  except 
Keble  were  either  yet  in  a  state  of  flux  or  be- 
longed to  quite  a  different  school  of  thought." 
Newman  himself,  writing  to  Froude,  says: 
"I  do  verily  believe  a  spirit  is  abroad  at  pres- 
ent, and  we  are  but  blind  tools,  not  knowing 
whither  we  are  going.  I  mean  a  flame  seems 
arising  in  so  many  places  at  once  as  to  show 
no  mortal  incendiary  is  at  work,  though  this 
man  or  that  may  have  more  influence  in  shaping 
the  course  or  modifying  the  nature  of  the 
flame.  "2  Li  another  place,  he  speaks  of  the 
"Unseen  Agitator"  who  is  at  work. 

The  movement  took  on  definite  shape  and 
plan  in  the  famous  meeting  or  "congress"  of 
its  half-dozen  foremost  leaders  in  the  Hadleigh 
Eectory  in  the  year  1833.  It  culminated  in  the 
reception  into  the  Catholic  Church  of  John 
Henry  Newman  and  several  of  his  companions 

1  Church. — The  Oxford  Movement,  pp.  32,  33. 

^  Hurrell  Froude,  by  Louise  Imogen  Guiney,  p.  115. 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT       103 

in  1845.  In  the  submission  to  Rome  of  Dr. 
Newman,  the  Anglican  establishment  received 
a  blow  from  which,  by  the  confession  of  its 
friends,  it  has  never  entirely  recovered.  The 
stream  of  conversions  due  directly  or  indirectly 
to  his  influence  has  not  even  now  ceased.  Yet 
almost  numberless  as  are  the  individuals 
brought  to  the  Church  in  this  way,  it  may  per- 
haps be  doubted  if  the  fruit  of  the  movement 
in  advancing  the  whole  body  of  Protestantism 
may  not  result,  in  the  long  run,  in  still  greater 
good.  No  man  of  sense  and  upright  judgment 
can  indeed  approve  of  the  recent  course  of 
those  highest  of  high  "Anglo-Catholics"  who, 
while  admitting  the  power  and  jurisdiction 
of  the  Roman  Pontiff  over  the  whole  Church, 
as  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  yet  refuse  to  sub- 
mit to  that  jurisdiction,  and  while  proclaiming 
his  supreme  teaching  authority,  yet  decline  to 
receive  his  decisions,  persistently  remaining  in 
schism  and  rebellion  in  the  hope  of  ultimately 
bringing  back  the  whole  body  to  the  unity  of 
faith  and  government.  Yet  the  gradual  famil- 
iarizing of  the  Protestant  mind  with  Catholic 
ideas  and  the  leavening  of  society  in  general 
with  the  Catholic  spirit,  a  process  which  is  go- 
ing on  very  generally  and  rapidly  in  conse- 
quence of  the  movement,  must  ultimately  re- 
sult, it  would  seem,  in  wholesale  conversions  to 
which  those  we  have  already  seen  are  trifling. 


104  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

In  America,  tlie  publications  of  the  Tracta- 
rians  were  eagerly  read,  and  those  who  here 
and  there,  by  their  own  reading  and  reflection, 
had  been  attracted  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
toward  the  Catholic  ideal,  were  now  canght  up 
by  the  advancing  flood.  John  Henry  Hobart, 
Bishop  of  New  York  from  1811  to  1830,  was  a 
leader  in  High  Churchmanship  of  the  old 
school,  and  maintained  its  principles  with  great 
vigor  in  his  published  addresses  and  charges. 
Bishop  Whittingham  of  Maryland,  Doane  of 
New  Jersey,  Ives  of  North  Carolina,  and 
others,  not  only  followed  his  lead  but  went  far 
beyond  him.  His  successor  in  the  see  of  New 
York,  Benjamin  T.  Onderdoiik,  though  only 
moderately  high  in  his  own  views,  afforded  pro- 
tection to  the  Catholicizing  students  at  the 
General  Theological  Seminary,  of  which  he  was 
ex  officio  the  head,  and  he  came  to  be  looked 
111)011  as  a  champion  of  the  party. 

Bishop  Ives  established  in  his  diocese  of 
North  Carolina,  at  a  spot  called  Valle  Crucis,  a 
monastic  society  named  the  Brothers  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  the  first  organization  of  the  kind 
in  the  Episcopal  Church  of  America.  So 
marked  were  Bishop  Ives'  Catholic  tendencies 
that  his  own  clergj^  were  alarmed  and  he  was 
arraigned  before  the  Convention.  Although 
his  statement  of  faith  and  explanations  were 
judged  satisfactory,  the  brotherhood  was  dis- 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT       105 

solved.  Another  effort  in  the  same  direction 
was  made  at  Nashotah,  in  the  lake  district  of 
Wisconsin,  by  James  Lloyd  Breck,  a  graduate 
of  the  General  Theological  Seminary  of  New 
York  in  1841.  Associated  with  him  were  two 
of  his  classmates,  John  Henry  Hobart  (a  son 
of  the  former  bishop)  and  William  Adams. 
Their  purpose  was  to  practice  celibacy  and 
community  of  goods,  to  teach  Catholic  princi- 
ples and  to  preach  from  place  to  place — in  a 
word,  to  found  a  religious  order  on  explicitly 
Catholic  lines.  The  institution  grew  and  pros- 
pered, but  was  gradually  diverted  from  its 
monastic  purpose.  Hobart,  a  very  admirable 
young  man,  soon  left  to  take  a  wife.  Adams 
married  the  daughter  of  his  own  bishop. 
Bishop  Kemper  favored  the  scheme  as  a  valu- 
able accession  to  his  diocese  in  the  shape  of  an 
ecclesiastical  seminary  and  college;  but  play- 
ing at  monk  lost  its  interest  for  most  of  the 
participants.  Breck  left  in  disappointment 
and  founded  another  similar  institution  in 
Faribault,  Michigan ;  but  finally  he  also  married 
and  ended  his  career,  as  a  highly  respected  mis- 
sionary and  pioneer,  in  California.  George 
Richards,  a  half-brother  of  Henry,  studied  for 
the  ministry  at  Nashotah,  but  was  not  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  ardent  Catholic  spirit  of  the 
founders.  The  seminary  has  in  later  years  fur- 
nished many  distinguished  converts  to  the  Cath- 


106  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

olic  Church;  but  it  is  said  at  present  to  have 
sunk  in  doctrinal  matters  to  a  decidedly  Low 
Church  level. 

But  Kenyon  College  and  Seminary,  as  may 
be  inferred  from  what  has  already  been  said, 
were  not  the  place  in  which  the  seeds  of  Catho- 
lic doctrine  and  practice  could  find  congenial 
soil.  Indeed,  the  troubles  that  drove  Bishop 
Chase  from  the  Presidency  and  the  diocese 
seem  to  have  arisen  in  part  from  the  aversion 
of  his  Low  Church  faculty  to  what  appeared  to 
them  his  ultra-Catholic  tendencies,  mild  and 
restricted  as  these  were.  A  brief  allusion  to 
these  discussions  finds  a  more  logical  place 
here  than  if  it  had  been  introduced  in  strict 
chronological  order.  The  complexion  of  the 
Convention  is  described  by  the  Eev.  Henry 
Caswall,  a  young  Englishman  who  was  a  stu- 
dent with  Mr.  Richards  in  1829  and  who  in  after 
years  returned  to  his  native  land  and  became 
Vicar  of  Figheldean  in  Wiltshire.  In  his 
''America  and  the  Americans,"  Dr.  Caswall 
writes:  ''Once  a  year  the  General  Convention 
of  the  diocese  assembled  at  Gambier,  on  which 
occasions  the  thirty  or  forty  congregations 
then  existing  in  the  diocese  were  represented 
by  their  lay  delegates ;  and  most  of  the  clergy, 
then  twenty  in  number,  attended  in  person.  .  .  . 
It  was  easy  to  see  that  even  in  that  little  band 
opposite  principles  were  at  work  which  could 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT      107 

hardly  fail  to  produce  a  disastrous  result.  The 
Bishop,  for  example,  like  the  other  American 
prelates,  rested  his  prerogative  on  Apostolic 
succession  and  firmly  believed  in  the  efiQcacy  of 
the  Sacraments  as  means  by  which  grace  is 
conveyed.  The  professors  generally  were  good 
men,  but  inclined  to  low  views  of  the  Church, 
and  were  disposed  to  show  great  deference  to 
the  spirit  of  the  age.  .  .  .  Their  desire  was  to 
render  the  college  popular  among  all  classes  of 
the  community,  and  this  object  could  only  be 
affected  by  sinking  in  some  measure  its  distinc- 
tive features  as  a  Church  institution.  In  these 
and  similar  plans,  a  large  portion  of  the  clergy 
and  laity  in  the  Diocesan  Convention  were 
ready  to  support  them,  believing  that  Episco- 
pacy in  Ohio  was  practicable  only  in  the  mildest 
and  most  liberal  form." 

Bishop  Chase  himself,  in  his  "Eeminis- 
cences,"  speaks  on  this  head  even  more 
strongly.  ^ 

When  Charles  Pettit  Mcllvaine,  a  brilliant 
young  minister  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was  elected 
in  1832  to  take  the  place  of  Bishop  Chase,  his 
theological  principles  were  low  enough  to 
satisfy  even  the  Faculty  and  Trustees  of  Ken- 
yon.  What  these  principles  were  may  perhaps 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  was  educated 
at  Princeton,  the  stronghold  of  thoroughgoing 

3  Vol.  II,  p.  89. 


108  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Presbyterianism,  not  only  graduating  at  the 
college  but  also  attending  the  theological 
school  for  two  years,  as  there  was  then  no 
ecclesiastical  seminary  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States.  In  later  life  he  wrote 
that  during  the  two  years  spent  in  this  Presby- 
terian theological  course,  he  heard  nothing 
taught  which  was  distinctive  of  that  church ! 

But  in  regard  to  Episcopal  authority,  the  re- 
calcitrant Faculty  found  that  it  had  made  little 
improvement  upon  Bishop  Chase,  perhaps 
rather  the  reverse.  The  new  prelate  was  no 
less  positive  than  his  predecessor  as  to  the 
prerogatives  of  his  office  and  the  necessity  of 
keeping  supreme  power  in  his  own  hands;  and 
his  methods  of  enforcing  his  claims  were  more 
systematic  and  effective.  By  his  energy^  and 
ability,  as  well  as  his  commanding  personal 
character,  he  soon  brought  order  and  prosper- 
ity to  the  affairs  of  the  college.  After  a  time, 
some  of  the  Professors  ventured  to  oppose  him. 
He  writes  to  his  mother  in  1839:  '*I  caused 
certain  matters  at  the  college,  which  have  given 
me  trouble  for  three  years,  somewhat  of  the 
kind  that  drove  Bishop  Chase  away,  to  be 
brought  before  the  Convention,  and  had  them 
well  settled  by  the  diocese,  who  have  no  idea 
of  letting  two  or  three  men  disturb  the  peace  of 
their  Bishop." 

The  following  appreciation  of  Bishop  Mc- 


THE  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT       109 

Ilvaine's  character  and  religious  attitude  is 
taken  from  Father  Walworth 's  ' '  Oxford  Move- 
ment in  America":  ''In  his  whole  life  and 
doctrine,  I  can  find  nothing  characteristic  of 
Episcopalianism  except  that  he  used  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  and  attached  some  impor- 
tance to  Apostolical  Succession.  Baptismal  re- 
generation he  scouted,  while  he  was  in  no  re- 
spect behind  Calvin  in  maintaining  the  doctrine 
of  'total  depravity'  or  behind  Luther  in  his  ex- 
travagant presentation  of  the  great  Protestant 
heresy  of  'justification  by  faith  only.' 

"While  a  student  in  the  seminary,  I  went 
one  Sunday  morning  to  hear  him  preach  on 
this  last  doctrine,  which  was  his  favorite 
theme.  I  think  it  was  at  St.  Mark's  on  Eighth 
Street.  It  made  the  blood  fairly  creep  in  my 
veins  to  listen  to  him.  .  .  .  Amongst  all  evan- 
gelical enthusiasts,  especially  ladies.  Bishop 
Mcllvaine  was  a  hero,  a  sort  of  apostolic  divin- 
ity. I  remember  well  the  worshipful  words  of 
an  excellent  Presbyterian  lady  of  New  York 
City.  .  .  .  Anything  clerical  was  to  her  some- 
thing angelic ;  even  I,  boy  that  I  was,  stood  in 
her  regard  as  something  like  Raphael's  round- 
cheeked  cherubs,  with  very  little  wings  put  on 
to  atone  for  cheeks  and  eyes  extraordinarily 
human.  But  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  though  most 
violently  and  bitterly  evangelical,  with  his  high 
talents  and  fine  elocution,  was  something  super- 


110  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

human.  'Isn't  lie  perfectly  wonderful!'  slie 
would  say  to  me.  'Isn't  he  lovely T  I  could 
not  enter  into  her  enthusiasm  at  all,  though  I 
would  willingly  have  done  so,  for  she  was  very 
dear  to  me  and  I  was  always  glad  to  please  her. 
I  acknowledged  that  he  was  wonderful  enough. 
I  wondered  at  him  myself,  but  I  thought  him 
altogether  unlovely.  I  could  very  well  have 
used  the  terms  applied  by  the  celebrated  Rufus 
Choate  in  praise  of  a  Massachusetts  judge: 
'We  look  upon  him  as  a  heathen  looks  upon 
his  idol.  We  know  that  he  is  ugly,  but  we 
feel  that  he  is  great.'  " 


CHAPTER  VI 

SEMINARY ORDINATION MARRIAGE 

1839—1840 

In  the  autumn  of  1839,  under  the  circum- 
stances imperfectly  outlined  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  Henry  Richards  returned  to  Kenyon 
and  began  his  theological  studies  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  ministry.  We  have  purposely  left 
to  this  place  all  account  of  his  transition  from 
Presbyterianism  to  the  Episcopalian  faith. 
This  change  had  been  gradual.  Before  en- 
tering college  the  second  time  in  1834,  he 
had  been  somewhat  indoctrinated  with  Epis- 
copal views.  The  fact  that  his  venerated 
father  had  embraced  that  faith  and  was 
the  leading  spirit  in  organizing  its  congre- 
gation in  Granville,  naturally  had  its  weight 
with  the  son.  The  services  held  in  his  father's 
house,  the  books  that  came  under  his  notice,  the 
intercourse  with  Episcopal  clergj^men  who  offi- 
ciated occasionally  in  the  village,  all  these  as- 
sociations molded  his  opinions  and  prepared 
his  mind  gradually  and  almost  insensibly  for 

the  full  acceptance  of  the  new  faith.    More- 

111 


112  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

over,  the  transition  was  by  no  means  violent; 
for  the  prevalent  character  of  Episcopalianism 
differed  very  little  in  matters  of  belief  from  the 
most  decided  Calvinism.  The  precise  date  of 
his  confirmation  and  formal  reception  into  the 
Episcopal  Church  cannot  now  be  ascertained; 
but  he  was  an  adherent  of  that  body  in  heart 
before  he  returned  to  Kenyon,  and  every  day 
of  his  four  years  of  college  life  strengthened 
him  in  his  devotion  to  it. 

Mr.  Richards'  ''style  of  churchmanship"  (a 
phrase  which  he  considers  allowable  without 
discourtesy  toward  his  old  associates)  was 
naturally  the  ''Extreme  Low."  If  Episcopa- 
lian churchmen  may  be  divided  (we  should  not 
venture  to  use  the  classification  were  it  not 
for  the  example  of  a  respected  minister  among 
their  own  number),  into  "Low  and  lazy,  Broad 
and  hazy,  High  and  crazy,"  Mr.  Richards 
would  fall  into  the  first  class,  except  for  the 
laziness.  He  was  always  most  energetic,  ac- 
tive, and  intensely  in  earnest  in  carrying  his 
principles  into  practice,  and  most  zealous  in 
every  religious  work  that  came  within  his 
reach.  Nor  can  it  be  said,  we  think,  that  in 
this  spirit  he  was  altogether  exceptional  among 
his  Episcopalian  brethren.  No  doubt  many 
pastors  and  parishes  in  the  East  and  South 
may  have  shared  in  the  apathy  and  stagnation 
which   in   the   Anglican  body    roused   the   in- 


ORDINATION— MARRIAGE         113 

dignation  of  Froucle,  Ward  and  Newman. 
But  such  men  as  Bishops  Chase  and  Mcllvaine, 
however  fundamentally  mistaken  in  their  be- 
liefs, were  overflowing  with  zeal  and  energy, 
and  were  always  ready  to  undertake  heroic 
labors  for  the  service  of  God,  while  at  the  same 
time  striving  to  keep  up  habits  of  intense 
prayer.  The  new  President  of  Kenyon  had 
already  acquired  much  of  that  distinction 
wliich  made  him  not  long  afterward  the  ac- 
knowledged leader  of  the  Low  Church  party 
in  the  United  States,  a  position  which  he  filled 
with  vigor  and  distinction  to  the  day  of  his 
death.  Low  churchmen,  such  as  he,  professed 
to  hold  strictly  evangelical  views  and  were 
ardent  advocates  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. In  other  words,  they  held  Calvin- 
istic  principles  of  total  depravity,  conversion, 
justification  by  faith  only,  «fec.  That  which  dis- 
tinguished them  from  their  brethren  of  other 
denominations  was  their  belief  in  the  Apostolic 
Succession  and  the  threefold  Order  of  the 
Ministry,  Bishops,  Priests  and  Deacons.  If  it 
be  asked  how  even  Low  Churchmen  could  hold 
to  the  Apostolic  constitution  of  the  Anglican 
Ministry,  and  yet  recognize  the  validity  and 
lawfulness  of  the  ministrations  of  clergymen 
of  other  denominations,  Mr.  Richards  attributes 
it  to  the  same  practical  inconsistency  with 
which  the  numerous  sects  into  which  Protes- 


114  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

tantism  is  divided  hold  to  essentially  contra- 
dictory beliefs  in  the  most  fundamentally  im- 
portant matters  and  at  the  same  time  recognize 
one  another  as  brethren  in  the  household  of 
faith.  He  remarks  it  as  a  curious  fact,  throw- 
ing a  strong  light  upon  the  thoroughly  illogical 
and  confused  state  of  the  Protestant  mind,  that 
these  Low  Church  Evangelical  members  of  the 
Episcopalian  body,  while  claiming  brotherhood 
with  the  other  Protestant  sects  of  the  Refor- 
mation and  insisting  upon  the  privilege  of 
fraternizing  with  them  even  to  the  extent  of 
joining  in  the  same  religious  worship  and  some- 
times exchanging  pulpits,  yet  advocated  most 
strenuously  the  distinguishing  principles  al- 
luded to,  the  Apostolic  constitution  and  suc- 
cession of  the  threefold  order  of  the  ministry. 
This,  as  was  very  natural,  gave  them  a  double 
character  in  the  eyes  of  those  outside  their  own 
pale.  So  long  as  they  confined  themselves  to 
the  more  common  doctrines  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, there  was  no  objection;  but  the  moment 
they  began  to  insist  upon  the  authority  of  their 
bishops  and  the  Apostolic  Succession,  they 
were  classed  with  the  Romanizing  party  in  the 
church.  "I  remember"  goes  on  Mr.  Rich- 
ards, ''that  not  long  after  our  new  Bishop  came 
into  the  diocese,  he  felt  constrained  by  the  wild 
vagaries  and  religious  excesses  of  the  revival- 
ists who  at  that  time,  as  he  said,  were  sweep- 


ORDINATION— MARRIAGE         115 

ing  over  the  fair  face  of  God's  heritage  as  a 
desolating  fire,  destroying  all  true  spiritual 
life  and  verdure  in  its  way,  to  preach  a  sermon 
on  the  'Order'  of  the  Church  and  the  necessity 
of  keeping  uip  the  fences  and  adhering  to  the 
old  landmarks.  It  was  a  very  well  written  dis- 
course, presenting  his  subject  in  a  strong  and 
attractive  light.  It  made  a  powerful  impres- 
sion and  was  extensively  quoted  on  the  one 
hand  with  approval  by  the  High  Churchmen, 
who  maintained  that  he  had  become  one  of 
themselves  without  knowing  it,  and  on  the  other 
with  condemnation  by  his  brethren  of  other  de- 
nominations, who  accused  him  of  abandoning 
his  Low  Church  ground.  There  is  really  noth- 
ing more  astonishing  and  unaccountable  than 
the  fact  that  so  many  otherwise  sensible  and 
good  men  remain  all  their  lives  in  a  position  so 
thoroughly  illogical  and  contradictory  as  that, 
I  may  well  say,  not  merely  of  Low  Churchmen, 
but  of  Protestants  of  every  name.  They  all 
hold  to  some  truths,  some  more,  some  less,  but 
they  are  all  compelled,  by  the  very  necessity  of 
their  position,  to  hold  other  views  entirely  in- 
consistent and  contradictory  to  the  former.  I 
think  I  may  say  with  truth  that  I  was  never 
satisfied  with  an  illogical  position.  I  always 
had  a  decided  tendency  to  develop  principles 
to  their  legitimate  consequences." 

■TheologjM"  writes  he  with  some  feeling, 


Ul 


116  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

''"What  do  Protestants  know  of  the  wonderful 
science  of  TheologjM  Dr.  Sparrow  was  the 
only  man  who  in  a  theological  point  of  view 
redeemed  our  institution  from  contempt.  He 
was  really  an  able  man  and  had  given  the  sub- 
ject of  systematic  theology  considerable  atten- 
tion. That  is,  he  had  read  most  of  the  Prot- 
estant writers  on  the  subject  and  constructed 
a  system  for  himself.  This  was  contained  in 
a  manuscript  book  of  questions,  with  refer- 
ences, which  we  all  copied  and  thought  very 
wonderful.  Of  course  he  was  his  own  final  au- 
tliority  in  the  decision  of  important  theological 
questions,  though  he  referred  to  the  leading 
Protestant  writers,  taking  the  German  Dr. 
Dick's  work  for  his  principal  gniide  and  text- 
book. What  else  can  any  Protestant  professor 
do!  And  what  can  theological  students  among 
Protestants  do  but  take  their  professor  for  a 
guide  (if  he  inspire  confidence  enough),  and 
pin  their  faith  to  his  sleeve,  or  else  assume  to 
judge  for  themselves  between  the  various 
opinions  of  conflicting  autliorities,  each  man 
thus  becoming  his  own  guide,  his  own  supreme 
authority?  True,  in  matters  of  opinion,  Catho- 
lics do  the  same,  except  that  generally,  in  points 
where  differences  of  opinion  are  tolerated,  they 
decide  according  to  the  weight  of  authorities. 
But  the  grand  difference  between  Catholics  and 
Protestants  is  this,  that  the  former  have  an 


ORDINATION— MAERIAGE         117 

infallible  guide,  who  decides  matters  of  faith 
and  morals,  so  that  they  possess  a  body  of 
fixed  law,  a  system  composed  of  ruled  cases, 
which  all  are  obliged  to  accept.  To  the  Protes- 
tant, on  the  other  hand,  everything  is  a  matter 
of  opinion;  there  is  no  dogma  in  the  proper 
sense  of  that  word.  The  consequence  is  that 
the  theological  student  who  undertakes  to  think 
for  himself,  who  is  not  content  to  remain  in 
leading  strings,  is  necessarily  cast  loose  on  a 
wild  sea  of  doubt  and  uncertainty. 

''But  we  were  quite  content  to  jog  along  in 
humble  obedience  to  our  teacher,  reserving  any 
cases  upon  which  we  were  not  quite  satisfied 
for  future  more  thorough  investigation.  As 
for  the  rest  of  our  course,  I  must  confess  to  the 
greatest  astonishment  in  looking  back  at  the 
entirely  unsatisfactory,  imperfect  and  even 
ephemeral  nature  of  our  instruction !  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Joseph  Muenscher  was  Professor  of 
Hebrew  and  Hermeneutics.  He  was  hauled  up, 
as  we  used  to  say,  for  German  rationalistic 
views.  Professor  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  Wing 
had  the  chair  of  Ecclesiastical  History.  I  do 
not  remember  that  he  ever  gave  a  fact  or  a 
comment  outside  of  the  text  of  Mosheim.  The 
Bishop — I  forget  the  title  of  his  chair,  but  I 
remember  very  well  the  nature  of  his  instruc- 
tions. He  had  w^ritten  two  books  called  forth 
by  the  Oxford  Controversy,  one  large,  the  other 


118  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

small.  The  former  was  a  large  octavo  entitled 
Oxford  Divinity,  and  designed  to  show  that 
that  Divinity  tended  to  Eome.  The  latter,  a 
small  duodecimo,  was  on  the  subject  of  Justi- 
fication hy  Faith  Only.  These  two  ephemeral 
controversial  works  were  made  our  textbooks 
in  our  recitations  to  the  Bisho])! 

"I  must  not  neglect  to  state  that  there  were 
two  textbooks  referred  to  in  our  course  from 
which  I  got  some  Catliolic  ideas,  though  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  saw  them  in  that  light  until  after 
I  had  finished  my  theological  course.  I  mean 
Pierson  on  the  Creed  and  Barrow  on  the  Pope's 
Supremacy.  Pierson  has  a  considerable 
amount  of  sound  divinity  in  his  treatise. 
Among  other  things,  he  uses  very  strong  lan- 
guage in  regard  to  the  degree  of  honor  proper 
to  bo  paid  to  the  Blessed  Virgin — 'Only  less 
than  that  which  is  paid  to  Almighty  God,'  or 
words  to  that  effect.  Barrow  first  gave  me  the 
idea  that  St.  Peter  was  the  head  of  the  College 
of  the  Apostles  and  the  numerous  evidences 
from  Scripture  of  his  being  first  and  foremost, 
in  fact  that  he  had  a  primacy,  if  not  a  suprem- 
acy, in  the  government  of  the  early  Church. 
Yet,  strange  to  say,  that  very  author  tries  to 
prove,  what  has  so  often  been  attempted  since 
his  day,  that  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  Peter 
ever  was  in  Eome! 

*'The  fact  is,  our  professors  all,  from  the 


ORDINATION— MAREIAGE         119 

Bishop  down,  seemed  to  attach  more  impor- 
tance to  'views,'  or  what  may  be  called  the  'com- 
plexion' of  our  theological  teaching,  than  to  any- 
consistent,  compact,  unique  system  of  dogma. 
So  that  we  were  all  right  on  justification  by 
faith  and  generally  on  the  so-called  evangelical 
views  of  depravity,  conversion  and  religious 
experience,  we  were  considered  quite  safe,  and 
they  seemed  to  think  all  other  things  necessary 
would  be  added  to  us.  I  had  adopted  the  views 
thoroughly.  I  had  learned  them  not  only  the- 
oretically, but  experimentally  and  practically. 
I  was  consequently  a  great  favorite  with  the 
Bishop.  I  think  he  was  delighted  with  the  first 
sermon  I  ever  wrote.  It  was  on  the  text  (such 
a  favorite  with  the  evangelicals),  'God  forbid 
that  I  should  glory  save  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  It  was  so  thoroughly — I 
might  perhaps  say  so  hyper-evangelical  that 
even  the  good  Bishop  had  to  modify  and  tone 
it  down  a  little,  at  least  in  some  few  expres- 
sions." 

After  Mr.  Richards  had  continued  his  studies 
for  some  time,  he  was  licensed  by  Bishop  Mc- 
Ilvaine  as  a  lay  reader  to  officiate  in  neighbor- 
ing parishes.  Instead,  however,  of  indicating 
to  him  some  book  of  sermons  to  be  read  to  the 
congregation,  as  was  and  is  still  the  custom  in 
the  Episcopalian  Church,  lay  readers  being  pro- 
hibited from  venturing  on   sermons   of  their 


120  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

own,  tlie  Bishop  read  over  Mr.  Richards'  com- 
positions, approved  of  them  and  recommended 
him  to  read  them  to  the  people.  This  excep- 
tional proof  of  confidence  was  supplemented  by 
every  other  mark  of  favor,  which  continued 
until  Mr.  Richards,  as  an  ordained  minister 
and  pastor,  began  thinking  for  himself  and 
showed  a  leaning  toward  High  Church  doctrines 
and  practices. 

As  often  happens,  Mr.  Richards'  mind  was 
quickened  in  its  interest  in  living  religious 
questions  and  its  grasp  of  the  principles  in- 
volved more  by  discussions  among  the  students 
themselves  than  by  the  instruction  of  his  pro- 
fessors. 

He  records  that  among  the  theological  stu- 
dents there  were  two  of  decidedly  High  Church 
proclivities.  One,  whose  name  has  not  been  re- 
called, came  from  New  York.  He  was  a  very 
excellent  young  man,  very  intelligent,  very  sin- 
cere, quiet  and  retiring  in  his  habits.  He  al- 
ways insisted,  in  opposition  to  his  Low  Church 
friends,  that  no  incompatibility  existed  between 
High  Church  principles  and  truly  evangelical 
views  of  religious  life  and  experience.  He  was 
himself  in  fact,  as  Mr.  Richards  testifies,  a  good 
example  of  his  own  principles,  for  he  was  truly 
devout  and  conscientious.  He  was  looked  upon, 
however,  with  a  certain  degree  of  pity  that  so 
good  a  man  should  be  deluded  with  false  prin- 


OEDINATION— MARRIAGE         121 

ciples.  He  was  accustomed  to  read  the  New 
York  Churchman,  at  that  time  conducted  by 
Dr.  Seabury,  the  coryphaeus  of  the  High  Church 
party.  By  the  body  of  the  students  and  the 
professors  the  Churchman  was  looked  upon  as 
only  the  more  dangerous  for  being  so  ably  con- 
ducted. This  young  man  died  at  Gambler  be- 
fore finishing  his  course.  As  an  evidence  that 
his  principles  would  not  stand  the  test  of  the 
deathbed,  it  was  whispered  about  that  some 
days  before  his  end  he  requested  a  file  of  the 
obnoxious  paper,  which  hung  at  the  foot  of  his 
bed,  to  be  removed  out  of  his  sight.  The  other 
student  who  was  sufficiently  advanced  to  ad- 
vocate Tractarian  doctrines  in  this  stronghold 
of  old-fashioned  Protestantism  was  Joseph  S. 
Large,  a  young  man  of  fine  talents,  and  an  able 
disputant.  He  found  a  foeman  though  not  al- 
together worthy  of  his  steel,  yet  able  enough 
to  worry  him  with  the  inconsistencies  of  the 
High  Church  system,  in  Robert  Elder,  a  par- 
ticular friend  of  Henry  Richards,  and  after- 
ward Rector  of  the  church  in  Worthington. 
The  discussions  between  Large  and  Elder  were 
frequent,  prolonged  and  animated,  sometimes  to 
great  heat.  Large  was  the  more  learned  and 
more  acute  of  the  two  and  often  got  the  better 
of  his  opponent.  But  the  latter  learned  by  ex- 
perience the  weak  points  in  his  antagonist's 
armor,  and  in  answer  to  the  charge  that  his 


122  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

principles  tended  to  sectarianism,  and  finally 
to  scepticism  and  infidelity,  he  threw  back  upon 
him  the  no  less  terrible  accusation  of  a  tendency 
to  Eomanism. 

These  two  were  one  year  in  advance  of  their 
friend  Eichards  in  the  course.  It  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  listen  to  such  discussions  with- 
out acquiring  new  points  of  view  and  receiving 
seeds  of  thought  which  in  later  years  and  under 
favorable  circumstances  would  be  sure  to  ger- 
minate and  bring  forth  fruit. 

The  point  most  fiercely  contested  by  the 
theological  athletes  was  Baptismal  Regenera- 
tion. Henry  Richards  soon  came  to  recognize 
this  as  a  fundamental  question,  on  the  answer 
to  which  one's  whole  theory  of  Christianity 
must  rest.  It  will  therefore  be  worth  while  to 
copy  his  acute  and  solid  remarks  on  it.  "That 
is  undoubtedly  a  test  principle,"  he  says,  ''as 
the  question  lies  between  a  'Corporate  Chris- 
tianity,' involving  a  settled,  fixed,  authorita- 
tive organization,  designed  to  impart  the  new 
life  of  Faith  to  those  who  shall  be  incorporated 
into  the  system,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
idea  of  a  voluntary  agglomeration  of  separate 
individuals  who  have  received  their  life  from 
previous  direct  contact  with  the  Spirit  inde- 
pendently of  church  organization,  and  to  whom 
church  organization  is  rather  a  matter  of  con- 
venient arrangement  than  of  imjoerative  obliga- 


ORDINATION— MARRIAGE         123 

tion.  In  this  view,  the  life  of  the  organization, 
instead  of  being  the  fountain  and  source  from 
which  individuals  derive  their  life,  ...  is 
rather  the  aggregate  of  the  life  contributed  by 
the  individuals  composing  the  voluntary  as- 
sociation, and  possessed  by  them  independently 
of  it.  Here  the  individual  is  everything,  the 
organization  nothing,  or  at  least  of  secondary 
importance.  The  right  of  (unlimited)  private 
judgment  is  a  cardinal  principle  in  the  system, 
and  it  makes  a  man  his  own  guide,  his  own  law, 
and  finally  his  own  God  and  Master. 

''Baptismal  regeneration  implies  a  divine 
ejfficacy  attached  to  a  sacrament  instituted  by 
Almighty  God  for  the  special  purpose  of  im- 
parting the  divine  life  which  was  lost  by  the 
fall.  It  implies  a  system,  an  organization,  a 
divine  arrangement  for  nourishing  and  carry- 
ing on  this  divine  life  to  its  completion. 
It  implies  a  hierarchy,  a  teaching  and 
governing  body,  a  settled,  fixed  body  of  dogma, 
in  short  all  that  is  included  in  the  Catholic  sys- 
tem. These  ideas  began  to  dawn  upon  me  as 
the  result  of  these  discussions  in  the  Seminary ; 
the  seeds  were  planted,  though  I  fear  the  soil 
was  too  unpropitious,  too  preoccupied,  to  allow 
of  any  sudden  or  very  rapid  growth. ' ' 

The  first  article  published  to  the  world  from 
Mr.  Richards'  pen  was  an  essay  on  preaching, 
written  during  his  theological  course.    It  was 


124  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

an  exercise  in  the  class  of  Sacred  Eloquence, 
presided  over  by  tlie  Rev.  Dr.  C.  Colton, 
brother-in-law  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine.  This 
professor  was  also  editor  of  the  Gambler  Ob- 
server, and  he  complimented  the  young  stu- 
dent by  requesting  permission  to  print  so  ex- 
cellent a  production  in  his  paper. 

During  his  seminary  course,  Mr.  Richards 
kept  up  a  correspondence  with  his  brother 
William,  who  had  entered  the  Law  School  of 
Yale  University.  AVilliam  Richards  was  a  man 
of  great  ability,  with  a  strong  taste  for  philo- 
sophical and  political  speculation.  The  letters 
between  the  two  continued  to  be  frequent  in 
later  life,  covering  a  period  of  fifty  years.  In 
them,  besides  personal  and  family  matters,  cur- 
rent questions  of  j^olitics,  philosophy,  and  re- 
ligion are  discussed  with  great  interest.  As 
the  brothers  came  to  be  on  opposite  sides  in 
politics  while  closely  united  in  religion  and  in 
the  bonds  of  a  most  tender  affection,  the  corre- 
spondence becomes  at  times  animated.  Could 
it  be  published  in  full,  it  would  afford  a  cu- 
rious panorama  of  the  progress  of  events  in  the 
United  States  as  seen  day  by  day  by  actual  ob- 
servers. 

Another  correspondence,  certainly  no  less  in- 
teresting and  encouraging  to  the  young  semi- 
narian at  this  period,  was  that  which  he  carried 
on  with  the  young  lady  to  whom  he  was  en- 


ORDINATION— MARRIAGE         125 

gaged.  A  passage  in  one  of  her  letters  has  a 
curious  interest  in  reference  to  clerical 
celibacy : 

''Last  Sunday,  Mr.  Lacock,  assistant  minister 
of  Bishop  Otey,  preached  for  us.  ...  I  was 
somewhat  amused  with  some  of  his  remarks. 
He  and  Mr.  Helfenstein  were  speaking  of  the 
hardships  of  ministers  in  the  West.  Mr.  L. 
said :  '  Oh,  it  is  nothing  for  them !  It  is  their 
families.  Indeed  it  is  a  very  great  inconven- 
ience for  a  Western  clergyman  to  have  a  wife. 
I  believe  we  shall  be  obliged  to  adopt  the  creed 
of  the  Roman  Priests  and  live  in  a  state  of 
celibacy!' 

"I  think  all  would  not  agree  with  him. 
Think  you  they  would?  I  am  half  inclined  to 
think  we  should  find  fewer  willing  to  endure 
the  privations  of  the  West,  if  they  were  obliged 
to  go  alone.  Would  not  their  situation  be  far 
more  unpleasant  without  the  company,  the  as- 
sistance and  the  attention  of  an  affectionate 
companion?     So  it  seems  to  me." 

In  looking  forward  to  matrimony  at  no  dis- 
tant date  after  ordination,  Mr.  Richards  was 
not  alone  among  his  fellow-students.  There 
was  a  favorite  saying  current  in  those  days 
among  Episcopalians,  attributed  to  the  vener- 
able Bishop  Moore  of  New  York,  to  the  effect 
that  the  first  thing  a  young  clergj^man  does 
after  getting  his  go^vn  is  to   secure  a  petti- 


126  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

coat.  ''Truth  compels  me  to  acknowledge 
that  there  was  no  subject  in  the  whole  range 
of  theology  that  was  discussed  with  so 
much  zest  by  our  seminarians  as  that  same 
petticoat,  involving,  as  it  usually  did,  vis- 
ions of  'love  in  a  cottage,'  that  cottage  a 
parsonage,  with  a  beautiful  church,  a  nice  con- 
gregation, a  comfortable  salary  and  all  the  et 
ceteras  of  a  respectable  position."  To  the 
anxiety  for  a  respectable  and  comfortable 
position,  Mr.  Richards  was  not  subject.  He 
understood  far  better  the  true  ecclesiastical 
spirit,  and  he  was  already  anxious  to  spend 
himself  and  be  spent  for  his  brethren  in  Christ. 
Mr.  Richards  is  of  course  far  from  blaming 
his  companions  or  himself  for  matrimonial  as- 
pirations, considering  the  circumstances  of 
their  position  and  that  of  every  Protestant  min- 
ister. But  he  remarks  that  his  purpose  is  to 
point  out  to  his  children  the  contrast  between 
theological  education,  as  it  exists  in  the  semi- 
naries of  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  novitiates 
of  her  religious  orders,  and  that  of  theological 
schools  of  the  Protestant  sects.  The  latter  are 
on  a  lower  spiritual  plane.  The  Reformation, 
he  declares,  originated  in  an  uxorious  disposi- 
tion. Luther  married  a  nun  and  set  an  example 
to  all  his  followers.  Henry  TOI  apostatized 
and  caused  the  Church  in  England  to  cut  itself 
off  from  the  Head,  because  that  Head  w^ould  not 


ORDINATION— MAEBIAGE         127 

allow  him  full  liberty  to  marry  as  many  wives 
as  lie  liked.  The  fittest  tools  he  called  around 
him  to  aid  in  his  nefarious  work  were  such  men 
as  the  "illustrious"  Cranmer,  who  married 
secretly  (if  indeed  he  married  at  all)  and  lived 
in  constant  violation  of  his  vow  of  chastity, 
while  continuing  to  officiate  as  a  priest  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  priests  who  apostatize 
and  become  the  weeds  which  are  ''thrown  over 
the  walls  of  the  Pope's  garden,"  are  generally 
those  who  through  temptation  have  fallen  from 
virtue.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  he  adds,  that 
when  a  young  Episcopal  clergjanan  is  dis- 
covered to  have  a  decided  leaning  towards 
Rome,  the  knowing  ones  among  the  older  clergy 
make  haste  to  get  him  married,  knowing  there 
is  no  more  effectual  way  of  extinguishing  all 
such  dangerous  aspirations. 

Mr.  Richards'  manuscript  notes  contain  an 
account  of  that  most  extraordinary  political 
agitation  preceding  the  Presidential  election  of 
1840,  which  placed  General  William  Henry 
Harrison  in  the  executive  chair  of  the  United 
States.  Although  not  connected  in  any  way 
with  his  religious  history,  his  graphic  descrip- 
tions are  no  doubt  of  sufficient  interest,  as  pic- 
tures of  the  times,  to  find  a  place  here.  It  is 
said  that  then  for  the  first  time  in  this  country 
political  processions  and  mass  meetings  came 
into  vogue  as  part  of  the  machinery  of  the  can- 


128  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

vass.     This  was  called  the  "Log  Cabin   and 
Hard  Cider  Campaign,"  and  its  war  cry  was 
"Tippecanoe,  and  Tyler  too!"    As  it  had  been 
said  of  General  Harrison  in  depreciation  that 
he  had  lived  in  a  log  cabin  with  nothing  to  drink 
but  hard  cider,  his  friends  turned  these  features 
to  his  advantage.     The  General's  brilliant  vic- 
tory at  Tippecanoe,  Indiana,  over  the  Indian 
tribes  under  the  famous  chieftain  Tecumseh, 
and  his  successes  against  the  British  in  Canada 
in  the  war  of  1812,  had  given  him  an  immense 
popularity  with  his  countrjinen,  a  popularity 
which  his  affable  manners  and  his  simplicity  in 
retiring,  like  Cincinnatus,  to  his  farm  had  done 
much  to  strengthen.     Dissatisfaction  with  the 
administration   of   President   Van   Buren   ran 
high,  and  the  result  was  a  wave  of  popular  ex- 
citement and  enthusiasm  until  then  unknown 
in    the    country.     Mr.    Eichards    descril^es    a 
great    meeting    at    Chillicothe    in    which    he 
took    part.     The    Hero    of    Tippecanoe    was 
to    appear    and    make    a    speech    to    the    as- 
sembled   thousands    of   his   countrjTQen.     The 
houses    of    the    citizens    were    thrown    open, 
long  tables  were  set  and  kept  constantly  sup- 
plied with  provisions.     Although  the  campaign 
was  then,  according  to  Mr.  Richards'  recollec- 
tion, just  beginning,  some  fifty  thousand  non- 
residents must  have  been  in  the  little  city  that 
day.     As  time  went  on,  the  excitement  grew 


ORDINATION— MARRIAGE         129 

until  the  whole  community  seemed  to  be  seized 
with  an  extraordinary  rage  for  demonstrating 
in  favor  of  the  military  hero  and  plain  farmer. 
Log  cabins  abounded  and  became  a  prominent 
feature  of  the  contest.  They  were  built  for 
halls  and  clubrooms,  they  were  made  in  minia- 
ture and  worn  as  ornaments.  They  were  drawn 
in  procession  by  endless  trains  of  oxen  to  mass 
meetings  and  conventions.  The  procession  of 
the  Granville  voters  who  attended  the  conven- 
tion at  Newark  made  a  particularly  vivid  im- 
pression on  the  young  clergyman's  imagina- 
tion. They  had  a  cabin  large  enough  for  a 
small  family,  with  all  its  furnishings.  This 
was  drawn  by  a  long  procession  of  oxen,  driven 
by  the  venerable  deacons  and  the  most  sober, 
conservative  sages  of  the  town,  all  in  smocks 
and  frocks,  wielding  long  whips  and  shouting 
excitedly  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  while  hard 
cider  was  lavishly  dispensed  from  barrels  in  the 
cabin.  During  that  campaign,  two  noted  char- 
acters, Tom  Corwin,  the  Wagon  Boy,  as  he  was 
familiarly  called,  and  Tow  Ewing,  the  Salt 
Boiler,  were  at  the  zenith  of  their  power  and 
popularity  as  public  speakers.  They  were  pres- 
ent on  the  occasion  alluded  to.  It  is  sometimes 
difficult  for  us  to  judge  of  the  merit  of  orators 
of  former  times.  Would  the  estimate  of  their 
contemporaries  be  ratified  by  that  of  our  own 
more  cultivated  taste?    After  many  years  of 


130  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

experience  and  observation,  Mr.  Eichards  gives 
it  as  his  judgment  that  these  two  men  were 
really  speakers  of  exceptional  power,  each  in 
his  own  way.  Corwin  he  describes  as  a  com- 
bination of  Cicero  and  Chrysostom.  His 
eloquence  was  truly  golden-mouthed.  His  style 
was  polished  and  sparkling  with  wit  and  humor, 
his  figure  was  commanding  and  his  action 
graceful,  while  the  power  of  expression  in  his 
mobile  face  was  wonderful.  Altogether  Mr. 
Richards  declares  that  he  has  never  listened  to 
any  other  who  impressed  him  so  strongly  as 
an  orator. 

The  eloquence  of  Ewing  was  of  a  different 
order,  but  very  effective.  It  was  not  so  ornate 
and  pleasing,  but  more  labored,  more  logical, 
with  more  of  sledge  hammer  strength.  The 
speaker  was  by  no  means  so  graceful  as  Cor- 
win ;  indeed  he  was  rather  awkward  in  manner, 
of  large  frame  and  rather  fleshy.  In  his  de- 
livery he  labored  like  a  man  mauling  rails. 
But  his  logic  and  earnestness  carried  all  before 
them.  Mr.  Richards  remarks  reflectively  upon 
the  widely  different  end  of  these  two  eminent 
Americans.  Corwin,  from  the  time  he  accepted 
the  post  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  for 
which  he  was  not  at  all  fitted  and  in  which  he 
was  charged,  whether  truly  or  falsely,  with 
transactions  which  would  not  bear  the  light, 


ORDINATION— MAERIAGE         131 

seemed  to  go  down  in  public  estimation  until  he 
died  almost  unlionored  and  unsung. 

''Thomas  Ewing  was  always  the  high-toned, 
honorable  man.  He  had  the  inestimable  ad- 
vantage of  having  a  good  Catholic  wife  and 
Catholic  children  trained  by  her  in  the  old 
paths,  who  prayed  for  their  father  and  husband. 
He  lived  to  an  advanced  age.  .  .  .  God  gave 
him  time  for  reflection,  and  at  last  he  sent  for 
his  good  friend,  the  Archbishop  of  Cincinnati, 
(Purcell)  and  made  his  submission  to  Holy 
Church. ' '  It  may  be  remarked  here  of  General 
Ewing 's  numerous  descendants,  that  they  have 
proved  the  champions  of  Catholicity,  not  only 
in  word  but  by  their  devout  lives,  in  many 
States  of  the  Union.  Foremost  among  these 
have  been  his  daughter,  wife  of  General  Wil- 
liam Tecumseh  Sherman,  and  her  children. 

Andrew  Jackson  and  Henry  Clay,  two  other 
leading  politicians  of  the  period,  are  spoken  of 
with  great  respect  by  Mr.  Richards  as 
thoroughly  honorable  men  who  served  their 
country  faithfully  and  well.  Though  by  no 
means  distinguished  for  piety  during  the  active 
portion  of  their  careers,  they  both  had  the 
grace  to  make  a  professedly  Christian  death. 

This  is  no  doubt  as  good  a  place  as  any  to 
introduce  Mr.  Richards'  recollections  of  another 
distinguished  public  man,  with  whom  he  was 


132  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

for  a  number  of  years  on  terms  of  friendship, 
Justice  Salmon  P.  Chase.  As  a  young  student, 
Mr.  Chase  lived  for  some  time  in  the  family  of 
Mrs.  Cowles  at  Worthington.  When  Mr.  Rich- 
ards was  officiating  as  Pastor  of  St.  Paul's 
Church  in  Columbus,  Mr.  Chase  was  living  in 
Cincinnati  and  gradually  acquiring  there  the 
reputation  that  afterwards  carried  him  into  the 
Governor's  chair  of  the  State  and  later  into 
the  Cabinet  of  President  Lincoln  during  the 
Civil  War,  resulting  ultimately  in  his  promotion 
to  the  position  of  Chief  Justice  on  the  Supreme 
Bench.  Whenever  he  came  to  Columbus,  as 
not  infrequently  happened,  Mr.  Chase  attended 
the  church  of  his  old  friend,  for  whom  he  pro- 
fessed a  warm  personal  regard,  and  whose 
preaching  seemed  to  be  entirely  to  his  taste. 
The  two  men  were  in  many  respects  opposed  to 
each  other.  Chase  being  very  Low  Church  in  reli- 
gion and  radical  in  politics,  while  Richards,  at 
all  times  very  conservative  in  his  political  con- 
victions, had  at  this  time  become  High  Church 
in  religion.  Still  they  found  points  of  contact 
and  sjTupathy  which  brought  them  together  on 
terms  of  mutual  admiration.  "He  was  in  some 
respects,"  writes  Mr.  Richards,  ''a  truly  great 
man ;  but  he  had  his  weak  points.  He  was  too 
ambitious  to  be  satisfied  with  simply  doing  his 
duty  to  his  country  for  duty  and  for  conscience' 
sake.    He  is  thought  by  those  who  knew  him 


ORDINATION— MAEEIAGE         133 

intimately  to  have  early  fixed  his  eye  on  the 
Presidency  and  he  never  ceased  to  strive  for 
the  goal  to  the  day  of  his  death.  .  .  .  Like  most 
of  our  distinguished  men,  he  either  never  gave 
his  special  attention  to  the  great  questions  of 
religion,  or  if  he  did  bestow  on  them  more  or 
less  attention,  it  was  of  a  superficial,  desultory 
character,  which  resulted  in  the  adoption  of 
crude  and  unsatisfactory  views.  He  professed 
to  be  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  but  I 
think  he  had  more  sympathy  with  some  of  the 
denominations  which  showed  more  life  and  zeal 
and  more  sympathy  with  the  masses.  He  saw 
some  of  the  good  points  of  the  Catholic 
Church;  and  if  he  had  given  his  attention  to 
the  subject  would  no  doubt  have  adopted  Catho- 
lic principles,  as  furnishing  just  what  he  was 
longing  for,  a  reconciliation  of  order  and 
liberty,  a  sympathy  with  the  masses  and  a  ten- 
der care  for  the  poor,  the  oppressed  and  the 
downtrodden  on  the  part  of  the  rich  and  pros- 
perous. It  is  melancholy  to  observe  how 
slightly  the  great  men  of  the  country,  especially 
the  politicians,  pass  over  the  greatest  of  all 
questions,  those  which  pertain  to  the  life  to 
come. ' ' 

The  ordination  of  Mr.  Richards  as  a  Minis- 
ter of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
America,  took  place  sometime  in  the  spring  of 


134  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

1842.  He  was  dispensed  from  a  portion  of  the 
theological  course,  which  then  embraced  three 
years.  Had  he  gained  any  idea  of  the  true 
science  of  theology,  as  he  remarks,  he  would 
have  been  unwilling  to  accept  any  such  dispensa- 
tion. But  his  excellence  as  a  student,  together 
with  his  high  jDersonal  character,  active  zeal 
and  profound  piety,  made  his  Superiors  quite 
ready  to  advance  him  to  orders  before  the  ex- 
piration of  the  regular  period.  Moreover,  they 
considered  his  ''views"  eminently  sound,  some- 
thing which  in  their  estimation  was  of  more  im- 
portance than  profound  attainments  in  the  "dry 
technicalities  of  dogmatic  theology."  He  con- 
jectures too  that  a  kindly  desire  to  hasten  his 
marriage  and  thus  contribute  to  the  happiness 
of  two  congenial  souls  had  some  share  in  limit- 
ing the  duration  of  his  studies.  The  ceremony 
of  ordination  was  performed  by  Bishop  Mc- 
Ilvaine  in  the  little  Episcopal  church  at  Gran- 
ville, of  which  Henry's  father  was  the  founder 
and  Senior  Warden.  His  first  sermon  in  public 
was  preached  inmiediately  after  ordination. 
He  was  disappointed  in  his  own  effort  and  be- 
lieved he  would  have  done  much  better  to  de- 
liver the  first  sermon  he  had  ever  written,  which 
had  been  so  highly  recommended  by  his  Bishop. 
This  he  did  give,  some  time  after,  in  Trinity 
Church,  Columbus,  with  great  effect.  The 
Trinity  congregation  was  very  Low  Church,  and 


ORDINATION— MARKIAGE         135 

exiat  particular  sermon  suited  their  views  per- 
fectly. 

The  new  clergj^man  had  his  work  already 
marked  out  for  him.  As  soon  as  his  engage- 
ment to  Miss  Cowles  had  become  known,  friends 
of  both  families  living  in  Columbus  had  deter- 
mined that  he  should  go  to  that  capital  and  take 
charge  of  the  new  missionary  church  of  St. 
Paul  which  had  been  commenced  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  city.  This  was  an  offshoot  from  the 
older  parish  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  was 
situated  on  the  corner  of  Third  and  Mound 
Streets.  While  still  in  Deacon's  orders,  Mr. 
Richards  was  elected  its  first  Rector. 

Preparations  were  on  foot  for  an  elaborate 
wedding,  an  object  no  doubt  of  very  special  in- 
terest not  only  to  the  numerous  relatives  and 
friends,  but  also  to  all  devout  adherents  of  the 
church,  when  an  event  occurred  that  disar- 
ranged all  plans  and  led  to  a  marriage  more 
hasty  and  far  less  joyous  than  had  been  con- 
templated. Mr.  Cowles,  the  father  of  Miss 
Cynthia,  fell  dangerously  ill  at  his  home  in  Wor- 
thingtou,  and  as  it  became  plain  to  himself  as 
well  as  others  that  his  end  was  at  hand,  he  de- 
sired to  see  his  oldest  and  favorite  daughter 
married  before  his  death.  The  wedding  was 
performed  on  the  first  day  of  May,  at  the  bed- 
side of  the  dying  man.  Robert  Elder,  the  warm 
college  friend  of  Mr.  Richards,  and  then  Rector 


136  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

of  the  church  in  Worthington,  officiated.  It  was 
a  sad  and  solemn  scene,  attended  rather  by  sobs 
and  tears  than  rejoicing.  But  it  was  not 
ominous  of  a  sad  future ;  for  no  marriage  was 
ever  blessed  in  after  life  with  greater  happiness 
and  more  perfect  unity  of  minds  and  hearts. 
"When  it  was  over,  Mr.  Cowles  fell  back  upon  his 
pillow  with  an  expression  of  great  satisfaction, 
and  not  long  after  breathed  his  last. 

Mrs.  Eichards  was  the  second  of  twelve 
children  of  Rensselaer  Watson  Cowles  and  his 
wife,  Laura  Kilbourne.  The  Cowles  family, 
identical  originally  with  the  branch  spelling  the 
name  Coles,  are  first  found  in  this  country  at 
New  Britain,  Conn.,  where  several  members 
were  active  in  the  cause  of  the  Colonies  during 
the  Revolutionary  War.  The  grandfather  of 
Cynthia,  the  Rev.  Whitfield  Cowles,  was  a  Pres- 
byterian Minister  of  East  Granby,  Connecticut. 
He  married  Gloriana  Havens  of  Shelter  Island, 
a  marriage  which  brought  him  into  relationship 
with  the  Nicoll  and  Van  Rensselaer  families. 
His  son,  Rensselaer  Watson  Cowles,  emigrated 
to  Worthington,  Ohio,  in  1814  and  there  mar- 
ried Laura  Kilbourne.  On  the  mother's  side, 
Cynthia  was  the  granddaughter  of  James  Kil- 
bourne, one  of  the  most  active,  successful  and 
universally  respected  men  in  the  early  history 
of  the  West.  He  was  successively  or  simul- 
taneously,  farmer,   merchant   and  mill-owner, 


ORDINATION— MAERIAGE         137 

cloth  manufacturer,  minister  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  explorer,  United  States  surveyor, 
founder  of  the  town  of  Worthington  and  of 
Sandusky  City,  Civil  Magistrate,  Colonel  of 
Militia,  member  of  the  Legislature  and  of  Con- 
gress, and  President  of  the  Corporation  of 
Worthington  College. 

The  compiler  of  the  Kilbourne  genealogy 
gives  the  following  incident  in  the  life  of  James 
Kilbourne,  throwing  a  curious  light  on  the  early 
history  of  that  protective  policy  in  regard  to 
the  customs  tariff  which  has  been  so  important 
a  feature  of  American  politics  in  recent  years : 

^' About  the  commencement  of  the  last  war 
with  Great  Britain  (1812),  it  being  extensively 
known  that  he  had  a  knowledge  of  manufactur- 
ing and  some  spare  capital,  he  was  requested  by 
his  friends  in  New  York,  and  urged  by  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet  and  members  of 
Congress,  to  embark  in  the  manufacture  of 
woolen  goods  for  clothing  the  Army  and  Navy. 
He  well  remembered  the  total  ruin  of  all  who 
were  engaged  in  similar  enterprises  during  the 
war  of  the  Revolution ;  still  the  promises  were 
now  so  fair,  and  the  non-protectionists  admit- 
ting their  errors  and  agreeing  to  change  their 
policy,  he  was  induced  to  join  a  company  for 
that  purpose,  in  which  he  invested  ten  thousand 
dollars,  and  incurred  liabilities  to  the  amount 
of  fifty-seven  thousand  more.     He  prosecuted 


138  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

his  new  enterprise  with  his  accustomed  energy, 
and  during  the  continuance  of  the  war  accom- 
plished much.  Peace  came  in  1815,  but  with 
it  no  protection  of  woolens.  He  sustained  the 
whole  establishment  with  immense  losses,  until 
1820,  when,  all  hope  from  government  failing, 
the  factories  at  Worthington  and  Steubenville 
were  crushed." 

Colonel  Kilbourne's  first  wife,  the  grand- 
mother of  Cynthia  Cowles,  was  Lucy  Fitch,  the 
only  daughter  of  John  Fitch,  inventor  and 
builder  of  the  first  steamboat  in  America. 


CHAPTEE  A^II 

THE    MINISTRY HIGH    CHUECH    TENDENCIES THE 

STRUGGLE     BETWEEN     HIGH     AND     LOW     CHURCH 
PARTIES CONVENTION  OP  1844 REBAPTISM 

Arriving  in  Columbus  to  take  charge  of  the 
new  parish  that  he  was  expected  to  build  up, 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Richards  found  only  the  base- 
ment of  the  little  church  in  existence ;  but  it  was 
roofed  over,  and  equipped  for  services.  On 
the  first  day  of  December,  1842,  the  parish  was 
formally  organized  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  with 
twenty-one  communicants.  The  Sunday  School 
numbered  fifty  scholars.  Mr.  Richards  held  the 
first  full  and  regular  services  on  the  first  Sun- 
day of  Advent  of  that  year. 

The  young  couple  took  up  their  quarters  for 
a  time  at  the  house  of  an  aunt  of  the  bride, 
named  Harriet  Buttles.  The  two  families  to 
which  the  organization  of  the  new  mission  was 
chiefly  due  were  those  of  Aurora  Buttles  and 
Isaac  N.  Whiting,  two  gentlemen  who  had 
married  sisters,  Harriet  and  Orrel  Kilbourne. 
They  were  grave,  conscientious  men,  each  after 
his  own  manner,  highly  respectable  and  of  great 

139 


140  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

weight  in  the  community.  ' '  Aunt  Buttles ' '  was 
a  woman  of  remarkable  ability,  very  sound  in 
her  views,  as  soundness  was  then  estimated,  and 
with  an  unusual  facility  of  explaining  and  ad- 
vocating her  convictions.  She  possessed  a  mas- 
culine mind  with  feminine  tenderness ;  she  was 
well  balanced  and  very  wise  and  prudent. 
*'Aunt  AMiiting"  was  equally  large  hearted, 
but  not  so  staid  and  conservative  as  her  elder 
sister.  She  was  enthusiastic,  excitable,  and 
impulsive,  but  capable  of  great  and  sustained 
labor  in  any  good  cause.  She  entered  heartily 
into  all  plans  of  parish  effort  and  enterprise, 
was  fertile  in  expedients,  and  supplied  abun- 
dant enthusiasm  to  inspire  the  most  languid 
workers  and  to  surmount  the  most  formidable 
obstacles.  So  great  was  her  ascendancy  that 
the  church  was  sometimes  facetiously  known  as 
St.  Orrell's.  The  two  families  were  influential, 
and  around  them  gathered  a  few  other  people 
of  standing.  Tliey  gave  tone  to  the  congrega- 
tion and  settled  the  shade  of  teaching  and 
ritual  which  would  prove  acceptable.  As  it 
happened,  the  preference  of  these  families,  in 
contrast  with  the  great  majority  of  the  Trinity 
congregation,  was  for  the  High  Church  variety, 
though  it  was  too  early  as  yet  for  the  extremely 
advanced  practices  that  afterward  became  com- 
mon. One  chief  motive  for  the  foundation  of 
the  new  mission  was  to  preach  the  gospel  ac- 


THE  MINISTRY  141 

cording  to  the  Episcopal  doctrine  as  understood 
by  high  churchmen  to  the  poor  of  the  lower  dis- 
trict of  the  city.  It  was  no  doubt  due  in  part  to 
this  intention  that  from  the  beginning  it  was 
stipulated  by  the  founders  that  the  church 
should  be  free,  i,  e.,  that  no  charge  should  be 
made  for  sittings. 

To  spiritual  work  for  the  poor,  Mr.  Richards 
was  by  nature  particularly  well  adapted.  Him- 
self endowed  with  an  unaffected  dignity  and 
refinement  of  manner  and  a  bright,  kindly,  good 
humor  that  made  him  the  centre  of  every 
gathering  at  which  he  was  present,  he  was  yet 
extremely  democratic  in  his  views  and  sym- 
pathies. Never  throughout  life  did  he  show 
the  slightest  trace  of  social  ambition  or  of  that 
esteem  for  mere  wealth  that  infests  so  much  of 
modern  society.  Not  only  did  he  sympathize 
keenly  with  the  poor  in  their  sufferings  and 
trials,  but  in  his  dealings  with  them  there  was 
no  element  of  condescension  or  patronage. 
They  were  his  equals,  his  suffering  brothers  in 
Christ,  and  he  felt  it  to  be  a  privilege  as  well 
as  his  plain  duty  to  spend  himself  and  be  spent 
in  their  service.  With  his  active,  energetic 
nature  and  his  intense  piety,  born  of  his  strict 
religious  training  and  his  practice  of  frequent 
and  fervent  prayer,  it  may  easily  be  imagined 
that  he  threw  himself  into  the  duties  of  his  new 
position  with  the  most  ardent  zeal  and  enthusi- 


142  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

asm.  In  one  instance,  liis  zeal  in  the  service 
of  the  poor  may  perhaps  be  judged  to  have 
been  excessive.  There  were  a  few  respectable 
persons  of  this  class  in  the  limits  of  the  parish, 
among  whom,  as  Mr.  Eichards  remarks,  a  cer- 
tain Mrs.  Morningstar  shone  resplendent. 
Her  memory  constituted  a  bright  spot  in  his 
recollections  throughout  life.  She  was  a  widow 
with  one  son,  a  mere  boy,  and  quite  without 
means  of  support.  To  this  dear  and  gentle 
old  lady  someone  had  given  a  load  of  slabs, 
the  refuse  of  the  sawmill,  to  be  used  as  fire- 
wood. But  there  was  no  one  to  saw  them  to 
proper  lengths  for  use;  so  the  minister  shoul- 
dered his  saw  and  buck,  marched  to  her  little 
house,  and  performed  the  laborious  task.  In 
this  there  was  not  only  no  ostentation,  but  he 
was  not  even  conscious  of  making  an  act  of  ex- 
traordinary mortification  or  self-conquest.  He 
simply  saw  that  the  poor  woman  needed  the 
work  done  and  that  there  was  no  one  to  do  it 
but  himself,  and  to  him  it  seemed  natural  and 
proper  that  he  should  undertake  it.  This  was 
by  no  means  the  only  occasion  on  which  he 
showed  himself  singularly  free  from  human 
respect.  But  the  same  view  of  their  minister's 
action  seems  not  to  have  been  taken  by  all 
his  parishioners.  Unfavorable  remarks  were 
made;  and  Mr.  Eichards  was  led  to  think  that 
it  might  perhaps  have  been  wiser,  on  the  whole. 


THE  MINISTRY  143 

to  hire  a  man,  even  from  his  scanty  salary,  to 
do  the  work.  He  soon  learned  a  discouraging 
lesson  as  to  the  adaptability  of  the  Episcopa- 
lian system  to  the  needs  of  the  poor. 

In  his  work  among  the  humbler  classes,  Mr. 
Richards  met  with  a  number  of  Catholic  fami- 
lies, and  in  the  first  fervor  of  his  zeal,  en- 
deavored to  pervert  them.  But  he  met  only 
cold  rebuffs.  Not  only  did  his  reasonings  fail 
to  convince  any  of  them  that  they  should  attend 
his  church,  but  he  soon  found  that  even  the 
children,  particularly  some  of  those  of  German 
parentage,  with  their  knowledge  of  the  Catholic 
catechism,  were  better  theologians  than  he, 
though  he  had  spent  several  years  in  the  study 
of  what  was  ostensibly  theology  and  in  prepa- 
ration for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

The  task  of  building  up  the  new  parish  met 
with  many  discouragements,  and  progress  was 
slower  than  the  ardent  young  Rector  had  hoped. 
By  the  aid  of  fairs,  subscriptions,  and  strenuous 
etforts  of  various  kinds,  he  succeeded,  by  the 
year  1845,  in  completing  the  upper  portion  of 
the  church,  a  fact  which  he  reported  to  the  Con- 
vention of  that  year  with  the  expression  of  a 
hope  that  it  might  soon  be  consecrated  as  a 
free  church  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God. 
The  structure  was  of  brick,  in  a  simple  but 
dignified  Gothic  style,  and  was  capable  of  ac- 
commodating some  two  hundred  and  fifty  per- 


144  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

sous.     The  congregation,  though  made  up  of 
very   heterogeneous   elements,   was   singularly 
united   and   harmonious,    owing   no    doubt   in 
great  measure  to  the  enthusiasm  and  unselfish 
devotion   of  their  young  Rector.     He   visited 
both  rich  and  i)Oor  at  their  houses ;  talked  with 
them  earnestly  on  religious  subjects,  explained 
to  them  his  views  and  endeavored  in  every  way 
to  influence  their  minds  and  hearts.    In  return, 
they   loved   and   respected  him   sincerely.    In 
spite  of  the  gradual  change  that  took  place  from 
this  time  forward  in  his  views,  the  members  of 
his  flock  in  general  placed  the  utmost  confidence 
in  their  pastor  and  pinned  their  faith  very  much 
to   liis    sleeve,   at   least   for   the   time.     "And 
here,"  he  writes,  "  I  cannot  refrain  from  an 
expression    of    astonishment    at    the    temerity 
with  which  I  undertook  the  serious  and  awful 
responsibility  of  directing  souls  and  educating 
them  for  eternity  with  the  crude,  half-fledged 
notions  in  which  I  had  been  educated.     I  was 
zealous,  earnest,  and  in  a  manner  pious.     I  had 
what  were  called  clear  views  and  positive  no- 
tions, such  as  were  prevalent  and  as  constituted 
the  shibboleths  of  the  school  of  churchman  ship 
in  which  I  had  been  trained.     But  as  to  any 
comprehensive    knowledge    of    theology,    as    a 
beautiful  and  glorious  system,  unique,  harmoni- 
ous, consistent  with  itself,  especially  of  what  is 
called   Moral    Theologj^   including    Casuistry, 


THE  MINISTRY  145 

such  as  I  have  since  discovered  in  the  Catholic 
Church,  I  really  had  no  conception."    In  an- 
other place  he  writes:     ^'I  felt  very  sensibly, 
as  a  result  of  my  parish  labors  among  the  peo- 
ple, the  necessity  of  something  like  Confession 
in  order  to  complete  success  in  the  work  of  my 
ministry.     There   were  members   of  my  flock 
whom  I  knew  to  have  peculiar  trials ;  there  were 
conscientious  women  who  were  trying  to  lead 
good  and  pious  lives  in  the  midst  of  obstacles, 
temptations  and  peculiar  difficulties.     These  I 
felt  certain  I  could  relieve,  if  I  could  only  get 
them  to  open  their  hearts  to  me.     The  questions 
involved  were  often  of  a  delicate  nature,  and 
such  as  the  persons  shrank  from  making  known. 
I  saw  that  they  were  worried,  that  they  longed 
for  advice  and  comfort  and  direction ;  but  there 
was  an  impassable  barrier  between  us.     They 
had  to  bear  their  burden  alone  and  weep  in 
silence  and  in  solitude  over  evils  for  which  they 
could  find  no  cure.    What  a  merciful  provision 
is   Confession  in  Holy  Church!     How  utterly 
impossible  it  is  for  Christian  people  to  direct 
themselves,  to  enjoy  spiritual  comfort  and  con- 
solation, and  to  attain  to  any  degree  of  real 
sanctity  without  the  spiritual  direction  which 
the  Church  so  beautifully  and  so  compassion- 
ately furnishes  in  the  holy  tribunal  of  Pen- 
ance ! ' ' 
Among  the  duties  of  the  young  minister,  that 


146  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

of  preaching  held  of  course  an  important,  per- 
haps the  most  important,  place.  In  this  Mr. 
Richards  had  excelled  from  his  student  days. 
It  was  then  an  almost  universal  custom  for 
preachers  not  only  to  write  their  sermons  care- 
fully but  to  read  them  from  the  manuscript. 
The  effect  was  oftentimes  most  dreary.  Mr. 
Richards  followed  the  custom  so  far  as  the  care- 
ful preparation  was  concerned;  but  he  made 
himself  so  familiar  with  his  composition  that 
his  delivery  was  free  and  unrestrained.  Some 
of  his  sermons  were  left  purposely  unfinished, 
in  order  that  he  might  add  extempore  exhorta- 
tions and  applications.  His  great  earnestness 
and  ardor  of  character,  with  his  intense  realiza- 
tion of  spiritual  truths  and  needs,  gave  vigor 
and  effectiveness  to  all  that  he  said;  while  his 
pleasant  and  flexible  voice,  endowed  with  a 
peculiar  sweetness  and  sympathy  and  a  consid- 
erable range  of  tone,  and  his  action,  which,  if 
not  always  entirely  graceful,  was  natural  and 
earnest,  combined  to  produce  a  deep  impression 
and  to  stir  the  hearts  of  his  audience  and  sway 
their  wills  as  he  pleased.  Mr.  Richards'  repu- 
tation as  a  preacher  increased  steadily;  and 
even  at  the  time  of  his  conversion,  when  he  be- 
came the  mark  for  much  hostile  criticism  and 
some  abuse  from  his  old  friends  and  associates, 
all  his  critics  seem  to  have  borne  testimony 
to  his  remarkable  talents  in  this  direction.     It 


THE  MINISTRY  147 

was  intimated  to  him  that  the  church  of  St.  Paul 
in  Cincinnati,  then  very  flourishing  and  aristo- 
cratic and  of  High  Church  complexion,  was  pre- 
pared to  give  him  a  call.  But  any  such  change, 
had  he  contemplated  it,  was  effectually  pre- 
vented by  a  cause  that  had  already  proved  a 
serious  drawback  to  many  of  his  undertakings 
and  which  was  destined  to  exercise  a  still  more 
important  influence  on  his  life.  This  was  an 
obstinate  chronic  dyspepsia  from  which  he  had 
suffered  more  or  less  continuously  from  youth, 
and  which  at  times  produced  a  very  depressing 
effect  upon  his  mind  and  feelings.  His  ill 
health  ultimately  led,  as  we  shall  see  in  the 
sequel,  to  his  resigning  his  charge  and  seeking 
restoration  in  a  more  favorable  climate,  and 
thus  was  indirectly  a  powerful  agent  in  leading 
him  to  the  Catholic  Church. 

Mr.  Richards'  estimate  of  his  own  powers  as 
a  preacher  was  very  modest,  and  his  account 
of  his  methods  and  difficulties  in  the  composition 
of  his  discourses  is  interesting  enough  to  jus- 
tify transcription:  ''I  never  could  force  my- 
self to  write,  and  I  had  not  the  gift  of  extempore 
speaking  sufficiently  to  enable  me  to  preach  ac- 
ceptably without  writing.  I  never  had  the 
faculty  which  some  men  have  of  sitting  down 
and  deliberately  planning  a  discourse  and  then 
going  to  work  and  elaborating  the  various 
heads,  like  the  poor  Israelites,  who  had  to  pro- 


148  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

duce  their  tale  of  brick  whether  they  had  straw 
or  not.  I  wrote  rather  from  impulse  and  under 
an  afflatus.  When  I  was  in  good  spirits,  my 
mind  was  free  and  active,  and  I  wrote  with 
facility  and  with  considerable  vigor.  My  ideas 
flowed  freel}^,  indeed  faster  than  I  could  record 
them,  I  threw  my  whole  soul  into  the  task,  and 
generally  my  only  safety  was  to  write  while  the 
inspiration  was  on  and  finish  up  the  work  in 
hand.  But  dyspepsia  and  consequent  depres- 
sion, stagnation  and  aridity  were  the  general 
nile,  and  the  consequence  was  my  sermons  were 
unequal,  and  generally,  I  fear,  poor  specimens 
of  either  literary  or  theological  culture.  I  think 
they  were  only  redeemed  from  unmitigated 
mediocrity  by  the  zeal  and  earnestness  with 
which  they  were  delivered  and  the  extempore 
exhortations  and  personal  applications  with 
which  they  were  sometimes  finished.  I  some- 
times laugh  now  to  think  how  as  Sunday 
approached  without  the  favor  of  that  happy 
concurrence  of  circumstances  necessary  to  the 
inspiration,  I  used  to  tremble  at  the  prospect  of 
being  compelled  to  appear  before  my  congrega- 
tion with  a  crude  preparation  as  unsatisfactory 
and  even  mortifying  to  myself  as  it  would  be 
unwelcome  to  them.  It  was  'pump  or  drown,' 
as  Brother  Elder  used  to  say;  and  so  I  would 
sit  down  with  pen  in  hand  and  paper  before  me. 
I  would  write  my  text  in  clear  and  bold  lines, 


THE  MINISTRY  149 

and  tlien  I  would  dip  my  pen  in  ink  and  wait 
and  think,  and  again  dip  my  pen  and  keep  up 
the  thinking,  waiting  for  the  inspiration,  till 
perhaps  in  desperation  I  would  make  the  begin- 
ning with  some  conmionplace  observation,  and 
then  stick  fast  in  the  slough  of  despond.  It 
was  no  laughing  matter  then!  But  when  the 
inspiration  came,  oh,  how  swimmingly  we  did 
get  on!  We  were  wafted  before  the  gentle 
breeze,  the  mind  expanded,  thought  flowed 
freely,  I  became  identified  with  my  subject,  apt 
illustrations  flashed  upon  my  mind,  new  and 
curious  phases  of  thought  were  suggested,  the 
whole  theme  seemed  so  mapped  out  and  com- 
pletely at  command  that  I  was  surprised  at 
myself,  and  wondered  why  it  should  ever  be  a 
task  to  write." 

Shortly  after  the  commencement  of  his  labors 
in  Columbus,  began  that  change  and  upward 
tendency  in  Mr.  Richards'  convictions  which 
ultimately  led  him  into  the  bosom  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church.  At  first  he  found  himself  in  the 
embarrassing  position  of  a  Low  Church  minis- 
ter called  upon  to  officiate  for  a  High  Church 
congregation.  Moreover,  he  soon  found  that 
his  sheep,  or  at  least  the  bellwethers  of  the 
flock,  were  rather  better  informed  on  the  intri- 
cate questions  of  sheepfolds  and  pathways  than 
their  young  shepherd.  Mr.  Whiting  was  a 
bookseller,  and  kept  for  many  years  the  largest 


150  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

and  best  supplied  establishment  of  this  kind  in 
Columbus.  He  was  a  constant  reader  and  a 
very  thoughtful  and  religious  man.  He  there- 
fore naturally  kept  pace  very  closely  with  the 
progress  of  the  Oxford  Movement,  and  he 
placed  in  his  pastor's  hands  every  publication 
of  interest  and  importance  as  it  appeared. 
"My  intellectual  history  from  this  time  on," 
writes  Mr.  Richards,  **is  curious  and  interest- 
ing. I  did  not  change  my  ^iews  at  once,  but 
there  was  a  silent  and  very  effective  influence, 
arising  out  of  my  new  circumstances,  always 
present  and  operating  upon  me.  The  effect 
was  what  might  have  been  expected  in  a  reflect- 
ing mind.  No  matter  what  phase  of  Protes- 
tantism you  assume  as  a  basis  or  starting  pomt, 
there  are  always  two  tendencies  operating  upon 
different  minds  according  to  circumstances — 
one  conservative,  leading  back  to  the  old  paths 
of  the  Catholic  Cliurch,  the  other  radical,  lead- 
ing forward  in  the  direction  of  scepticism  and 
infidelity.  There  is  no  consistent  half-way 
house,  no  logical  standpoint  between  Catholicity 
and  absolute  infidelity.  The  good  Providence 
of  Almighty  God  (for  which  I  shall  ever 
have  cause  to  j^raise  and  adore  Him)  placed 
me  in  a  position  where  the  bias  of  circum- 
stances led  me  in  the  back  track  to  the 
good  old  paths.  The  process  was  the  most 
gradual  possible ;  and  it  is  deeply  interesting 


THE  MINISTRY  151 

to  me  now,  from  my  higli  post  of  observa- 
tion, to  contemplate,  in  the  retrospection  of 
the  past,  the  clear  and  distinct  manifesta- 
tions of  the  goodness  of  God  in  opening  my 
mind  to  the  truth,  and  gradually  revealing  to 
me  the  lineaments  of  that  beautiful  and  glorious 
system,  which,  as  time  went  on,  became  more 
and  more  clearly  and  distinctly  mirrored  to  my 
consciousness  in  all  its  simple  and  consistent 
beauty  and  grandeur.  I  recall  with  wondering 
pleasure  the  peculiar  sweetness  with  which  I 
oftentimes  sat  down  to  write  sermons  upon  cer- 
tain subjects  which  naturally  suggested  the 
sacramental  system,  and  how,  as  I  reflected  and 
wrote,  the  dim  shadow  of  the  mighty  figure 
seemed  to  float  before  my  mind,  prophetically 
revealing  itself,  lineament  by  lineament,  until 
in  time,  with  the  opportunities  of  reading  and 
reflection  which  naturally  came  in  my  way,  I 
came  to  comprehend  the  system  in  its  entirety 
as  a  unique  and  comprehensive  and  consistent 
whole.  I  commenced  reading  The  Churchman, 
still  under  the  editorial  conduct  of  Dr.  Seabury. 
This  divine  developed,  to  a  certain  point,  strong 
and  decided  Catholic  tendencies,  following,  as 
he  did,  the  Oxford  movement  in  England,  and 
reproducing  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  the 
reasonings  and  discussions  which  then  agitated 
the  established  church." 

Having  attained  to  a  conviction  of  the  super- 


152  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

natural  character  of  the  Church,  as  an  organ- 
ized body  founded  by  Christ  on  the  Apostles, 
commissioned  by  Him  to  teach  all  nations  to 
the  end  of  time  and  to  fulfill  His  mission  to  men, 
possessing  too  in  the  sacraments  the  means  of 
conferring  grace,  it  was  natural  that  Mr.  Rich- 
ards' mind  should  advert  to  the  necessity  for 
Unity  and  Authority  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 
"Starting,"  he  writes,  "with  the  doctrines  of 
Apostolic  Succession,  Baptismal  Regeneration, 
and  generally  the  principles  which  characterized 
the  sacramental  system,  the  Tractarian  leaders, 
about  the  time  I  am  speaking  of,  had  come  to 
realize  the  importance  of  having  some  consistent 
and  satisfactory  theory  of  Unity.  The  prin- 
ciples of  the  Catholic  Church  are  so  simple,  so 
natural,  so  easily  proved  both  by  reason  and 
Scripture,  and  so  evidently  the  doctrine  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  that  when  one  is  started 
on  the  road  of  sincere  and  honest  investigation, 
progress  is  not  only  easy  but  deeply  interesting 
and  delightful.  On  the  supposition  that  you  are 
really  a  Catholic  (though  in  a  Protestant  sect), 
with  no  difficulties  ab  extra  to  be  reconciled,  a 
man  with  any  logic  at  all,  to  say  nothing  of 
aesthetic  taste  or  pious  inclination,  will  naturally 
drink  in  the  system  as  a  thirsty  man  drinks  in 
water.  I  remember  with  what  satisfaction  I 
wrote  a  sermon  on  Unity.  "What  strong 
ground  I  took!     There  could  in  the  nature  of 


THE  MINISTRY  153 

things  be  but  one  true  Cliurcli;  it  would  be  an 
absurd  contradiction  to  assert  that  our  Lord 
established  more  than  one  body.  And  then 
how  easily  it  was  proved  from  Scripture  and 
reason!  There  is  'one  body  and  one  Spirit,' 
&c.  'Be  ye  perfectly  joined  together  in  the 
same  mind  and  the  same  judgment,'  &c.  'Mark 
those  who  cause  schisms  among  you  and  avoid 
them,'  &c.  I  illustrated  the  absurdity  of 
schismatics  calling  themselves  the  true  Church 
by  the  case  of  the  Masonic  Fraternity,  who  con- 
stitute a  compact  body  throughout  the  world, 
but  who  would  not  be  likely  to  recognize  a 
schism  from  their  body,  however  respectable 
it  might  be,  and  however  much  of  the  spirit  and 
teaching  and  ceremonial  of  the  order  it  might 
retain.  The  schism  might  spread  into  all  coun- 
tries and  in  some  places  it  might  almost  super- 
sede the  regular  order,  the  mass  of  the  people 
might  be  more  acquainted  with  the  schism  than 
with  the  parent  body.  Their  prejudices  against 
the  parent  body  might  be  so  strong  and  they 
might  be  so  accustomed  to  the  assertion  that  it 
was  corrupt  and  unworthy  of  confidence  and 
that  the  schismatical  body  was  the  only  true 
representative,  the  only  real  Masonic  Frater- 
nity, that  they  would  have  no  doubt  of  its  genu- 
ineness. Yet  it  would  be  schismatical  still. 
The  old  original  Fraternity  of  Masons  would 
not  recognize  the  separatists,  and  they  never 


154  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

could  have  a  legitimate  title  to  be  called  Masons 
without  abandoning  their  schism  and  connect- 
ing themselves  formally  with  the  original 
body." 

The  only  fair  inference  from  this  reasoning, 
in  one  occupying  Mr.  Richards'  position,  was 
that  the  Episcopal  Church  was  the  original  and 
only  Catholic  Church.  This,  however,  he  did 
not  venture  to  assert.  He  did  what  others  at 
the  time  did  and  are  still  doing,  he  avoided  the 
difficulty  and  slurred  it  over  with  some  general 
remarks  as  to  the  misery  and  sin  of  schism  and 
the  duty  and  desirability  of  unity  among  all 
who  call  themselves  Christians.  Mr.  Eichards' 
account  of  the  mental  process  by  which  he  and 
his  fellow  seekers  after  Catholic  truth  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  haystack  reconciled  them- 
selves to  their  anomalous  position  is  not  unin- 
teresting. ''The  Via  Media  theory,  in  its  day, 
was  very  popular.  Truth,  they  said,  lay  in  a 
middle  way  between  Romanism  on  the  one  hand 
and  Sectarianism  on  the  other.  Indeed,  I  know 
of  nothing  in  the  whole  histor}^  of  literature 
more  wonderful  than  the  pertinacity  with  which 
the  very  able  leaders  of  the  Oxford  Movement 
both  in  England  and  this  country  adhered  to 
their  illogical  position,  and  the  extraordinary 
ingenuity  displayed  in  trjdng  to  reconcile  them- 
selves to  that  position.  The  Thirty  Nine 
Articles    were    the    greatest    difficulty.     They, 


THE  MINISTRY  155 

if  anything,  must  be  taken  as  the  true  exponent 
of  the  (English)  Reformation,  that  great  move- 
ment by  which  the  Anglican  branch  of  the 
Church  Catholic  was  severed  from  the  Head 
and  Centre  of  Unity.  Strange  to  say,  these 
men  now  advocated  every  doctrine  that  the  Ar- 
ticles denounced.  Tract  Number  Ninety,  writ- 
ten by  Dr.  Newman,  took  the  ground  that  the 
Articles  were  not  a  confession  of  faith,  but 
articles  of  peace,  drawn  up  for  the  special  pur- 
pose of  compromise  between  contending  parties, 
and  hence  worded  in  an  ambiguous  way  which 
admitted  of  an  interpretation  wide  enough  to 
embrace  all  parties.  A  striking  illustration  of 
this  feature  of  the  Articles  is  furnished  by  the 
twentieth  of  the  series,  on  the  Authority  of  the 
Church:  'The  Church  hath  power  to  decree 
rites  and  ceremonies  and  authority  in  contro- 
versies of  faith.  And  yet  it  is  not  lawful  for 
the  Church  to  ordain  anything  that  is  contrary 
to  God's  written  word,  neither  may  it  so  ex- 
plain one  place  of  Scripture  that  it  be  repug- 
nant to  another.  Wherefore,  though  the 
Church  be  a  witness  and  keeper  of  Holy  Writ, 
yet  as  it  ought  not  to  decree  anything  against 
the  same,  so  besides  the  same  ought  it  not  to 
enforce  anything  to  be  believed  for  necessity 
of  salvation. '  Here  you  see  the  first  declaration 
is  quite  Catholic :  '  The  Church  hath  authority 
in  controversies  of  faith. '  .  .  .  But  then  it  goes 


156  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

on:  'It  is  not  lawful  for  the  Church  to  ordain 
anything  contrary  to  God's  word  written,'  &c. 
Here  the  question  naturally  suggests  itself,  who 
is  to  decide  whether  what  the  Church  ordains 
is  contrary  to  God's  word  written.  There  must 
be  an  authority  somewhere,  a  final  court  of  ap- 
peal. If  the  Church  is  that  court,  then  why 
say  the  court  must  not  decide,  &c.'?  If  the 
Church  is  not  that  final  authority,  then  it  be- 
comes a  very  grave  question  who  or  what  is. 
This  question  the  article  notoriously  leaves  en- 
tirely in  the  dark.  It  is  vague,  uncertain,  am- 
biguous. So  of  the  twenty-second  Article,  'Of 
Purgatory, '  which  says :  *  The  Romish  doctrine 
of  Purgatory  Pardons,  worshiping  and  adora- 
tion as  well  of  images  as  of  relics  and  also  of 
invocation  of  Saints,  is  a  fond  thing,  vainly  in- 
vented and  grounded  upon  no  warranty  of 
Scripture,  but  rather  repugnant  to  the  word  of 
God.'  Now  how  could  Dr.  Newman  and  his 
advanced  confreres  reconcile  their  advocacy  of 
the  doctrine  of  Purgatory,  Invocation  of  Saints, 
&c.,  with  what  seems  to  be  the  plain  declaration 
of  the  Article?  Nothing  easier!  It  is  the 
Romish  doctrine  against  which  the  Article  is 
aimed,  not  the  true  doctrine.  Possibly  the  Ar- 
ticle may  err  in  charging  the  Eomish  Church 
with  teaching  error  in  regard  to  these  doctrines. 
That  is  not  our  lookout.  It  is  however  gener- 
ally  admitted   that    superstition   was   encour- 


THE  MINISTRY  157 

aged  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  That  is  what  the 
Article  is  aimed  at.  We  can  still  hold  con- 
sistently to  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Purgatory, 
Invocation  of  Saints,  &c. 

*'I  mention  these  as  specimens  of  the  reason- 
ings of  learned  and  able  men  to  justify  them- 
selves in  holding  Catholic  doctrine  while  re- 
maining in  a  professedly  Protestant  church. 
Of  course,  one  of  the  first  discoveries  that  these 
men  made  was  that  the  true  Church  was  prop- 
erly and  necessarily  Catholic,  that  the  Anglican 
establishment  had  made  a  great  mistake  in  pro- 
fessing to  be  Protestant.  They  hastened  to  re- 
pair that  evil  by  insisting  that  they  were  the 
true  Catholics,  that  the  Romanists  were  not 
the  true  Catholics  and  should  not  be  permitted 
to  monopolize  the  name.  I  learned  at  a  pretty 
early  period  of  my  ministry  to  repeat  this  lan- 
guage and  tried  heartily  to  adopt  the  theory. 
I  rang  the  changes  on  the  theme.  It  was  a 
favorite  idea.  There  was  a  charm,  a  sort  of  fas- 
cination in  boldly  assuming  that  high  vantage 
ground,  in  spite  of  the  apparent  inconsistency 
involved  in  it.  Rather  an  amusing  incident  oc- 
curred, illustrating  the  absurdity  of  maintain- 
ing a  false  position.  I  had  been  preaching  in 
Trinity  Church  for  'Brother'  Tyng,  who  was 
absent  from  town.  After  the  close  of  service, 
as  I  was  passing  out  through  the  vestibule  of 
the  church,  two  or  three  Irishmen,  evidently 


158  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

greenliorns  just  landed  and  seeking  employ- 
ment in  the  West,  came  np  the  steps  and  meet- 
ing me  in  the  vestibule  tipped  their  hats  re- 
spectfully. 'Please  yer  honor,'  said  one,  'is 
this  the  Catholic  Church?'  In  the  unso- 
phisticated simplicity  of  my  nature,  I  re- 
plied: 'No,  this  is  not  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  is  over  there,  where  you  see  the  big  cross,'  at 
the  same  time  pointing  in  the  direction  of  the 
Catholic  Church  on  Fifth  Street.  Think  of  my 
chagrin  and  mortification,  when  I  became  con- 
scious of  this  sudden  and  spontaneous  betrayal 
of  my  new  principles!  The  power  of  self- 
delusion  in  human  nature  is  simply  wonderful." 
This  was  a  literal  verification  in  modern  times 
of  an  assertion  of  St.  Augustme  in  the  fourth 
century,  that  a  stranger  going  into  any  town 
and  inquiring  for  the  Catholic  Church  would 
never  be  directed  to  a  schismatical  conventicle 
but  to  the  place  of  worship  of  the  real  old  Cath- 
olic Church,  universally  recognized  as  such  and 
existing  throughout  the  world. 

At  this  stage  of  our  young  minister's  mental 
development,  it  was  most  providential  that,  in 
the  year  1844,  he  happened  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  Brownson's  Review.  Orestes  A. 
Brownson,  perhaps  the  most  vigorous  thinker 
and  powerful  writer  that  has  yet  adorned  the 
Catholic  Church  in  America,  had  begun  life, 
like  Mr.  Eichards  himself,  under  the  strictest 


THE  MINISTRY  159 

Calvinistic  training.  Eepelled  by  the  doctrines 
of  unconditional  election  and  reprobation,  of 
predestination  to  sin  and  damnation,  and  the 
other  unlovely  features  of  that  system,  he  had 
at  first  taken  refuge  in  unbelief  and  a  warfare 
on  the  most  sacred  institutions  of  society,  mar- 
riage, property  and  religion.  But  seeing  the 
absolute  necessity,  both  logically  and  ethically 
of  some  religion,  he  worked  his  way  by  the 
sheer  force  of  his  own  vigorous  reasoning 
powers,  through  Humanitarianism,  Universal- 
ism  and  Unitarianism,  and  finally,  after  con- 
sidering seriously  the  claims  and  professions 
of  Anglicanism,  up  to  the  Catholic  Church,  into 
which  he  was  received  by  Bishop  Fitzpatrick 
of  Boston  in  1844.  Throughout  his  whole 
career,  he  had  been  a  prolific  and  most  powerful 
writer  on  all  social,  religious  and  political  sub- 
jects. Many  of  his  articles  had  appeared  in  a 
publication  of  his  own,  the  Boston  Quarterly 
Revietv.  Shortly  before  his  conversion,  this 
was  revived  under  the  title  of  Broivnson's 
Quarterly  Revieiv,  and  almost  to  the  time  of 
his  death  in  1876  it  was  the  means  of  immense 
benefit  to  the  Church,  particularly  in  giving  to 
his  old  co-religionists  outside  of  her  fold  a 
statement  and  defense  of  her  doctrines  which 
they  would  with  difficulty  have  attained  from 
any  other  source.  With  a  mind  as  fearless  and 
logical,  if  not  so  penetrating,  as  Brownson's 


160  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

own  and  with  the  same  nnfaltering  love  for 
truth  above  all,  the  young  minister  read  the  first 
numbers  with  the  deepest  interest.  The  topics 
at  first  discussed  indicated  the  transitional  state 
of  the  Doctor's  mind.  They  had  reference 
principally  to  the  nature  of  the  Church  itself 
as  an  organized  Society,  the  Body  of  Christ, 
with  the  notes  of  Unity,  Sanctity,  Catholicity 
and  Apostolicity.  The  ability  and  freshness 
with  which  the  subjects  were  handled,  the  lumi- 
nous and  exhaustive  character  of  the  discus- 
sions, had  a  powerful  influence  on  the  reader's 
mind,  just  then  struggling  with  the  same  prob- 
lems. This  was  particularly  true  of  a  dispute 
between  Dr.  Brownson  in  his  Review  and  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Samuel  Seabury  in  the  columns 
of  The  Churchman.  Brownson  had  reviewed 
the  letters  of  Bishop  Hopkins  of  Vermont  ''On 
the  Novelties  which  Disturb  our  Peace/'  and 
in  doing  so  had  advanced  serious  objections  to 
Anglicanism.  Dr.  Seabury,  in  the  hope  of  in- 
ducing Brownson  to  join  the  Episcopal  Church, 
attempted  to  reply.  He  admitted,  with  the  Ox- 
ford divines,  that  the  Church  was  truly  a  cor- 
poration. But  to  escape  from  the  obvious  con- 
sequences of  this  admission,  Seabury  seemed 
to  think  he  had  raised  an  effectual  guard  by  as- 
serting that  a  visible  centre  and  a  visible  head 
were  not  essential  to  the  existence  of  a  corpo- 
rate body.    He  even  seemed  to  hold  that  the  cor- 


THE  MINISTRY  161 

poration  as  such  is  invisible.  To  this  Brown- 
son  answered  in  substance  that  while  the  right 
of  a  number  of  persons  to  act  collectively  as  a 
corporation  is  invisible,  yet  the  corporation 
itself  is  as  visible  a  body  as  an  army.  In  like 
manner,  the  authoritv  of  the  Church  is  invis- 
ible;  for  it  is  the  authority  of  Christ,  who  is 
its  invisible  head.  But  the  Church  itself  is  vis- 
ible, like  any  other  corporation,  and  it  must  be 
possessed  of  visible  organs,  and  chiefly  a  visible 
head,  through  which  it  can  act  officially.  He 
went  on  to  show  that,  admitting  the  Church  to  be 
a  corporation,  it  must  needs  be  one  in  the  unity 
of  the  corporation  and  one  in  its  corporate 
authority,  as  well  as  one  in  the  unity  of  faith 
and  charity.  "Now  if  the  Church  be  a  single 
corporation,  that  is,  a  single  body  corporate  or 
politic,  as  it  must  be  if  it  is  one  corporation 
and  not  an  assembly  of  corporations,  the  Angli- 
cans, in  breaking  the  unity  of  the  corporation 
and  declaring  their  church  an  independent  cor- 
poration, as  we  all  know  they  did,  were  guilty 
of  schism."  At  the  end  of  his  article.  Brown- 
son  makes  that  profession  of  faith  in  Catholic- 
ity which  came  probably  as  a  surprise  to  many 
even  of  those  who  had  followed  his  career. 
'*We  confess  that  the  more  closely  we  examine 
the  claims  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  more 
untenable  we  find  them.  We  had  almost  worked 
ourselves  into  the  desire  to  connect  ourselves 


162  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

with  that  cliurcli;  and  we  are  not  certain  but 
we  should  have  done  so,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  Letters  of  Bishop  Hopkins,  which  we  found 
ourselves  unable  to  refute  on  Anglican  princi- 
ples. We  confess  that  Bishop  Hopkins  appears 
to  us  to  be  true  to  his  church  and  to  interpret 
her  constitution  and  doctrines  according  to 
the  genuine  principles  of  its  founders.  His 
brethren  who  differ  from  him  have  more  with 
which  we  sympathize  than  he  has ;  but  they  are, 
in  our  judgment,  less  faithful  to  Anglicanism. 
They  would  fain  have  us  receive  tlieir  church 
as  Catholic,  and  disingenuously,  in  their  publi- 
cations, call  it  Catholic;  but  it  is  a  Protestant 
church,  Protestant  in  spirit,  in  doctrine,  in 
position,  and  in  name,  and  we  cannot  reconcile 
it  to  our  sense  of  honesty  and  frankness  to  call 
it  by  any  other  name.  It  seems  to  us  ridiculous 
to  call  it  Catholic. 

"Even  The  Churchman  itself  calls  its  church 
'the  reformed  Catholic  Church,'  which  admits 
its  fallibility ;  for  if  it  had  not  been  fallible,  it 
could  never  have  needed  reforming;  and  being 
fallible,  who  shall  assure  us  that  it  may  not 
need  reforming  again?  This  is  enough  for  us. 
"We  have  been  forced  by  our  own  errors,  mis- 
takes, misapprehensions,  self-contradictions 
and  frequent  changes  of  opinion  on  all  subjects, 
even  the  most  vital,  to  admit  that  our  own  rea- 
son alone  is  not  adequate  to  settle  the  great 


THE  MINISTRY  163 

questions  which  concern  our  peace  and  salva- 
tion. We  must  have  a  guide,  but  do  not  mock 
us  with  a  fallible  guide.  Talk  not  to  us  of  a 
church,  unless  you  have  an  infallible  church  to 
offer  us.  We  have  followed  a  fallible  guide 
long  enough.  We  believe  Christ  did  found  an 
infallible  church,  rendered  infallible  by  his  per- 
petual presence  and  supervision.  To  that 
church  we  willingly  yield  obedience.  But  your 
church  is  not  it,  for  yours,  by  your  confession, 
is  fallible.  We  have  therefore  been  obliged  to 
look  beyond  Anglicanism,  to  a  church  which  at 
least  claims  to  be  infallible  and  which  demands 
our  obedience  only  on  the  ground  that  it  is  in- 
fallible. 

' '  Nor  have  we  any  sympathy  with  the  war  of 
The  Churchman  against  the  Papacy.  .  .  .  We 
find  Anglicanism  more  objectionable  in  its  re- 
jection of  the  papacy  than  in  anything  else. 
This  was  its  primal  sin,  its  mother  error,  from 
which  has  come,  as  a  natural  progeny,  its  whole 
brood  of  errors.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
Papacy,  the  Church,  humanly  speaking,  had 
failed  long  ere  this.  In  the  institution  and 
preservation  of  the  Papacy,  we  see  the  especial 
providence  of  God.  We  shrink  not  from  the 
abused  name  of  Papist ;  and  we  only  regret  that 
the  ambition  and  wickedness  of  civil  rulers  have 
been  able  to  prevent  the  Papacy  from  doing  all 
the  good  it  has  attempted.     No  man  must  think 


164  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

to  frighten  us  by  the  cry  of  'Popery.'  Happy 
are  we  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
Father;  more  happy  shall  we  be,  if  we  can  so 
live  as  to  secure  his  blessing." 

To  Brownson's  arraig-nment,  Seabury  made 
no  reply,  in  spite  of  the  explicit  request  and 
demand  for  an  answer  contained  in  the  article. 
His  Pligh  Church  partisans  waited  long  and 
anxiously  for  their  champion's  response;  but  it 
never  came,  and  the  subject  was  not  alluded  to 
again  in  the  columns  of  The  Churchman. 

This  incident  had  a  powerful  effect  in  clarify- 
ing Mr.  Richards'  mind.  He  had  become 
heartily  sick  of  the  endless  divisions  of  Protes- 
tantism and  the  uncertainty  and  confusion  of 
doctrine  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  longed 
for  unity  and  for  certainty  of  faith.  He  found 
himself,  by  this  time,  possessed,  on  his  own 
judgment,  of  a  certain  number  of  Catholic  doc- 
trines, or  rather  opinions;  but  he  saw  around 
him  every  conceivable  variety  of  belief,  the 
Bishops  themselves  hopelessly  at  variance,  and 
no  authority  competent,  or  even  claiming  to  be 
competent,  to  settle  these  disputes  with  final 
and  unerring  certainty.  He  was  rapidly  com- 
ing to  realize  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
possessed  not  only  a  definite,  fixed  system  of 
doctrine,  Unity  of  Faith,  but  also  an  organ  for 
the  preservation  of  that  unity. 

The  Branch  Theory,  that  spurious  makeshift 


THE  MINISTRY  165 

devised  to  retain  anxious  souls  in  heresy  and 
schism,  and  actually  to  this  day  retaining  so 
many  hundreds  who  would  otherwise  find  refuge 
in  the  true  Fold,  had  no  attractions  for  his  frank 
and  straightforward  mind.  He  thus  writes  con- 
cerning it:  ''I  shall  never  forget  the  surprise 
with  which  I  first  read  a  full  and  able  statement 
of  the  Branch  Theory.  The  true  Church  is 
composed  of  all  w^ho  retain  the  Apostolic  Suc- 
cession, and  is  divided  into  three  great 
branches,  the  Eastern  or  Greek,  the  Western  or 
Roman,  and  the  Anglican.  'Anglo-Catholic' 
was  a  favorite  designation  at  this  time.  These 
great  branches  had  become  'temporarily  alien- 
ated' from  one  another.  It  was  a  useless  task 
to  undertake  to  determine  where  the  principal 
fault  of  the  alienation  lay.  There  was  undoubt- 
edly fault  on  all  sides.  The  true  policy  now 
was  to  cease  quarreling,  to  let  by-gones  be  by- 
gones, and  all  unite  in  a  grand  etfort  for  union. 
The  tone  of  controversialists  in  the  'Anglo- 
Catholic'  party  toward  the  Catholic  Church  was 
entirely  changed.  The  Romanists  were  no 
longer  the  horrible  monsters  they  had  uniformly 
been  represented  to  be  by  the  old  Iconoclasts 
and  Fathers  of  the  Reformation.  The  Roman 
was  a  true  branch,  a  Sister  Church,  having  law- 
ful jurisdiction  in  her  own  territory.  Some- 
times they  even  spoke  of  wooing  their  Ro- 
man  Sister  to   a  more  fraternal   intercourse. 


166  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Said  Keble,  the  sweet  singer,  the  poet  of  the 
party : 

"  'And  oh !  by  all  the  pangs  and  fears 

Fraternal  spirits  know, 
\\'hen  for  an  elder's  shame  the  tears 

Of  wakeful  anguish  flow, 
Speak  gently  of  our  Sister's  fall; 

Who  knows  but  gentle  love 
May  win  her  at  our  patient  call 

The  surer  way  to  prove!' 

"The  question  naturally  arose,  admitting  the 
Branch  Theory,  when  was  it  probable  that  the 
alienation  would  cease!  The  Greek  Schism 
occurred  about  one  thousand  years  ago,  the 
Anglican  three  hundred.  What  new  ground  of 
hope  had  they  that  the  obstacles  which  had  so 
long  stood  in  the  way  of  reconciliation  would 
be  removed?  The  greatest  obstacle  of  all  was 
the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Supremacy 
of  the  Pope  and  the  essential  headship  of  the 
See  of  Peter.  The  Anglicans  were  ready  to 
admit  the  Primacy  of  Peter,  but  denied  the 
Supremacy,  or  in  other  words,  the  divine  in- 
stitution of  the  Papacy  and  its  consequent 
necessity  to  the  very  constitution  of  the  Church. 
"What  reason  had  they  to  suppose  Catholics 
would  yield  this  principle,  which  they  have  held 
from  the  very  beginning  and  which  is  to  them 
the  very  bulwark  of  orthodoxy?  They  made 
very  earnest  attempts  at  fraternizing  with  the 
Greek  Church,  but  were  given  the  cold  shoulder 


THE  MINISTRY  167 

by  the  Greek  ecclesiastics.  Still  with  wonder- 
ful pertinacity  they  adhered  to  their  favorite 
theory  and  displayed  the  most  remarkable  in- 
genuity in  sustaining  it.  It  did  not  satisfy  me. 
I  had  at  a  quite  early  period  of  my  upward 
progress  got  a  glimpse  of  the  Catholic  idea  of 
the  Unity  of  the  Church,  with  a  Head  and  Cen- 
tre of  Unity  in  the  Papacy,  and  of  the  argu- 
ments from  reason  and  scripture  in  support  of 
it,  and  it  made  a  permanent  lodgment  in  my 
mind.  I  could  not  get  rid  of  it.  It  staid  with 
me.  It  haunted  me.  I  could  see  no  satisfac- 
tory answer  to  it,  and  the  more  I  reflected  on 
the  subject,  the  more  I  was  convinced  that  that 
was  just  what  Protestantism  lacked,  just  what 
we  all  needed  and  must  have  in  order  to  attain 
to  Unity  of  Faith  or  Unity  of  Organization.  I 
came  to  despise  Protestantism  as  such  and  to 
deplore  the  so-called  Reformation.  I  was 
haunted  by  the  idea  that  the  See  of  Peter  was 
the  Rock  on  which  the  Church  was  built  and 
which  had  the  promise  of  our  Lord  that  the 
gates  of  hell  should  never  prevail  against  it. 
For  a  wonder,  I  had  never  been  much  of  an 
Anti-Popery  man.  With  my  antecedents  and 
surroundings,  I  should  have  been  a  good  Popery 
hater  and  should  have  had  much  to  say  against 
the  abominations  of  Sodom  and  all  that.  But 
I  am  thankful  that  the  mercy  of  God  preserved 
me  from  that  species  of  fanaticism,  so  that  I 


168  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

seldom    made    allusion    to    the    doctrines    of 
Eome." 

In  the  autumn  of  1844,  Mr.  Eicliards  attended 
the  Convention  of  the  Episcopal  Church  which 
was  held  in  Philadelphia.  The  occasion  was 
made  memorable  for  him  by  his  rebaptism. 
The  controversies  concerning  the  nature  of  this 
sacrament  and  its  effect  upon  the  soul  had 
aroused  in  the  minds  of  many  members  of  the 
advancing  High  Church  party,  particularly 
clergymen,  doubts  and  scruples  as  to  the  valid- 
ity of  their  own  baptism.  They  did  not  see  how 
a  minister  who  had  no  faith  in  the  spiritual  re- 
generation effected  by  baptism  could  in  fact 
be  the  channel  or  instrument  of  that  grace. 
They  would  seem,  so  far  as  is  known  to  the 
writer  of  these  pages,  not  to  have  been  familiar 
with  the  doctrine  of  Catholic  theologians  as  to 
the  intention  of  the  minister  of  the  sacrament, 
viz.,  that  any  one,  even  a  pagan,  who  has  the 
intention  of  doing  what  the  Church  does,  really 
confers  the  sacrament,  provided  the  proper 
form  and  matter  are  employed.  Mr.  Eichards, 
who  had  been  baptized  in  infancy  as  a  Presbj^- 
terian,  had  esjoecial  reason  for  doubt.  In  meet- 
ing with  large  numbers  of  his  fellow  clerg^Tnen 
during  the  time  of  the  Convention,  the  subject 
was  fully  discussed.  The  result  is  told  in  the 
following  passage  from  a  letter  to  his  wife 
under  date  of  October  9,  1844 : 


THE  MINISTRY  169 

''Bishop  "Whittingham  is  a  noble  man.  And 
what  will  you  say  if  I  tell  you  that  yesterday 
morning  at  Matins  he  baptized  your  humble 
servant!  Oh,  what  a  blessed  privilege!  That 
one  thing  is  worth  my  whole  journey.  That 
great  question  is  settled.  My  mind  is  relieved. 
I  am  now  a  member  of  Christ's  Holy  Church. 
God  be  praised.  Mr.  Giles,  formerly  a  Kenyon 
student,  now  at  Alexandria  Seminary,  was  re- 
baptized  on  Sunday  by  Bishop  Otey.  .  .  .  Re- 
baptization  is  becoming  quite  common.  Messrs. 
Davis  and  Bonner  have  both  relieved  their 
minds  in  that  way  and  Bishop  Whitting- 
ham  tells  me  he  has  rebaptized  some  seven- 
teen. ..." 

But  rebaptism  was  probably  not  the  chief 
reason  for  Mr.  Richards'  attendance  at  the 
Convention.  This  was  rather  the  expectation 
of  a  strenuous  conflict  on  the  general  question 
of  Catholic  doctrines  and  practices  in  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States. 
We  have  described  in  an  earlier  chapter  the 
progress  of  these  tendencies,  in  general  accord 
with  the  Tractarian  movement  in  England.  It 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  innovators 
should  meet  with  no  opposition.  They  were 
in  fact  opposed  and  denounced  as  Romanizers, 
and  the  church  was  divided  into  factions  show- 
ing at  times  bitter  hostility.  ''Church  news- 
papers" says  Dr.  Tiffany,  "multiplied.     The 


170  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Churchman,  the  Protestant  Churchman,  the 
Banner  of  the  Cross,  the  Episcopal  Reader, 
and  many  more  evinced  growth  of  church  in- 
terest, but  also  increase  of  church  strife,  which 
they  did  nothing  to  allay  but  everything  to 
inflame.  .  .  .  Even  in  its  missionary  depart- 
ment, the  Church  seemed  to  rise  against  itself 
(pp.  458,  459)." 

*'The  publication  of  Tract  90  produced  a 
ferment  in  America,  as  in  England.  .  .  .  The 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  Dr.  Kenrick,  jiub- 
licly  appealed  to  the  bishops  to  sul)mit  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  on  the  ground  that  the  Ox- 
ford tracts  had  yielded  almost  every  ground 
of  dispute  between  the  two  communions;  and 
Bishop  Hopkins  of  Vermont,  always  ready  for 
controversy  and  delighting  in  it,  made  an  in- 
dignant reply,  and  in  American  fashion  chal- 
lenged Bishop  Kenrick  to  an  oral  discussion. 
But  it  was  the  Carey  ordination  in  New  York 
which  sounded  a  note  of  alarm,  which  sent  a 
shudder  through  the  church  and  stirred  Bishop 
PTopkins  to  write  his  celebrated  'Letters  on  the 
Novelties  which  Disturb  our  Peace,'  which  pub- 
lication later  on  somewhat  disturbed  his  own. 
The  ordination  of  Arthur  Carev,  involving  as 
it  did  the  ofiacial  recognition  of  the  views  of 
Tract  90  as  legitimate  in  the  (American) 
Church,  created  an  impression  altogether  out 
of  keeping  with  the  importance  of  the  candi- 


THE  MINISTRY  171 

date.  He  was  indeed  a  j^oung  man  of  marked 
ability  and  singular  sanctity  of  character,  a 
graduate  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary, 
forced  into  premature  notice ;  for  he  graduated 
in  1842,  too  young  for  ordination.  When  he 
came  up  for  examination  in  1843,  it  was  found 
that  he  accepted  the  teaching  of  Tract  90,  and 
believed  in  the  reconciliation  of  the  Decrees  of 
the  Council  of  Trent  with  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  though  it  is  said  that  he  suggested 
that  it  was  the  Decrees  which  required  explana- 
tion and  not  the  Articles  (pp.  473,  474)." 

Father  Walworth,  who  spent  a  year  with 
Carey  at  the  New  York  General  Seminary,  pre- 
ceding the  latter 's  ordination,  speaks  of  his 
fellow  student  with  the  greatest  reverence  and 
affection.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  both 
in  New  York  and  at  Kenyon,  the  first  prophet 
of  the  Catholic  movement  was  a  young  student 
of  extremely  gentle  and  devout  character, 
tenderly  beloved  by  his  companions,  and  sim- 
ilar in  many  respects  to  Hurrell  Froude  of  Ox- 
ford, and  that  all  three  died  before  their  work 
seemed  to  be  in  any  considerable  degree  accom- 
plished. "His  life  was  holy  and  lovely.  For 
one  year,  during  which  our  chamber  doors 
faced  each  other,  I  saw  him  constantly  and 
closely,  but  for  all  that  sight  or  sound  could 
tell,  to  me  his  character  was  faultless.  ...  It 
could  not  be  difficult  for  such  a  young  man  to 


172  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

secure    permission    from    the    faculty    of    the 
seminary  to  keep  his  room  there  for  yet  another 
year  after  his  graduation,  when  he  would  arrive 
at  the  canonical  age  for  ordination.     This  en- 
abled him  to  use  the  library  of  the  institution 
while  he  pursued  his  studies  in  private.     Dur- 
ing this  time,  apparently  so  quiet  for  him,  that 
great  storm  was  brewing  which  broke  upon  his 
solitary     habits     and     gentle     heart     like     a 
thunderbolt  (p.  59)."     Carey's  ordination  was 
objected  to  on  the  ground  of  Eomanizing  tend- 
encies.    He   was    subjected    to    a    special    ex- 
amination by  a  board  which  was  to  have  tried 
J.  B.  McMaster  also  on  the  same  charge.     The 
faculty  decided  that  McMaster  should  remain 
in  the  seminary  another  year,  and  the  Board, 
composed  of  Doctors  Berrian,  McVickar,  Sea- 
bury,  Anthon  and  Smith,  and  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Haight,  Higbee  and  Price,  and  presided  over 
by  Bishop   Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk,   devoted 
their  entire  attention  to  Carey.    "It  was  well 
understood  by  all  parties  present  at  this  trial 
that  Drs.  Smith  and  Anthon  appeared  not  only 
as  judges  but  as  accusers."    All  the  examiners 
but  these  two  were  satisfied" by  the  cautious  and 
well  considered,  but  perfectly  frank  answers  of 
Carey,  though  these  revealed  that  he  either  ac- 
cepted or  inclined  to  Catholic  doctrine  in  re- 
gard to  the  Holy  Eucharist,  Purgatory,  the  In- 
vocation of  the  Saints,  &c.    At  his  ordination 


THE  MINISTRY  173 

in  St.  Stephen's  Church  on  the  following  Sun- 
day, the  Rev.  Hugh  Smith  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Antlion,  habited  in  their  canonicals,  arose  suc- 
cessively from  a  pew  in  the  middle  aisle  and 
read  their  solemn  protests  against  the  ordina- 
tion, on  the  ground  that  the  candidate  held  doc- 
trines adverse  to  those  of  his  church  and  too 
nearly  bordering  on  Popery,  and  referring  for 
proof  to  statements  and  circumstances  within 
the  Bishop's  knowledge.  Bishop  Onderdonk 
rose  and  made  a  dignified  and  emphatic  reply 
and  went  on  with  the  ordination,  while  the  pro- 
testing divines  left  the  church. 

The  immediate  effect  of  these  events  was 
a  storm  of  controversy  and  recrimination 
throughout  the  country.  Every  one  of  the  ex- 
amining committee  was  obliged  by  public  ex- 
citement to  account  for  himself  by  some  pub- 
lished statement.  Pamphlets  and  editorials 
abounded,  and  a  new  publication,  The  Protes- 
tant Churchman,  was  founded  to  counteract  the 
influence  of  Dr.  Seabury's  Churchman.  At 
the  Diocesan  Convention  of  Ohio  in  October  of 
the  same  year.  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  in  his  charge 
to  the  clergy,  uttered  a  solemn  protest  against 
the  ordination  of  candidates  entertaining 
Carey's  beliefs.  As  the  General  Convention  of 
1844  approached,  it  was  generally  understood 
that  the  Ohio  delegation  would  introduce  a 
resolution  condemning  the  Catholic  movement 


174  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

and  that  a  vigorous  contest  would  result.  Mr. 
Richards,  standing  almost  alone  among  the 
Ohio  clergy  in  his  sympathy  with  the  Tracta- 
rians,  could  not  expect  to  be  elected  a  delegate ; 
but  he  went  as  a  spectator.  **As  was  antici- 
pated," he  writes  in  the  letter  above  quoted, 
"the  Ohio  delegation  have  lugged  in  the  Ox- 
ford hobby.  Several  resolutions,  substitutes 
and  amendments  have  been  offered  and  dis- 
cussed with  much  courtesy  and  dignity  and 
Christian  feeling.  There  are  some  few  rad- 
icals besides  the  'lesser  lights'  which  revolve 
around  the  'lone  star'  of  the  West." 

The  following  letter,  dated  Oct.  15th,  gives 
some  personal  details  of  interest  concerning 
some  of  the  leading  churchmen  of  the  day: — 

"Phil.u)elphia,  Oct.  15,  1844. 
"My  dear  Cynthia: 

"If  there  ever  was  a  poor  home-sick  fellow, 
I  am  he.  .  .  .  The  convention  is  right  in  the 
midst  of  its  most  important  business,  and  ap- 
parently of  its  session.  Not  one  single  great 
question  has  yet  been  decided.  The  consecra- 
tion will  not  take  place  till  no  one  knows  when. 
But  I  can  not  wait  longer.  I  must  go  home  and 
see  my  wife  and  little  one  and  attend  to  the 
duties  of  my  parish. 

"On  Sunday  last  we  had  a  most  delightful 
time  in  St.  Peter's.    And  here  let  me  say  how 


THE  MINISTRY  175 

exceedingly  fortunate  I  have  been  in  getting  a 
berth  at  Mr.  Davis's.  It  has  brought  me  in 
contact  with  a  large  circle  of  the  very  cream  of 
the  Church.  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  an  in- 
troduction and  frequent  meetings  in  the  vestry 
with  Bishops  Whittingham,  Onderdonk,  Otey, 
De  San,  Ives,  as  well  as  many  D.D.s  and  clergy 
of  inferior  grade  though  of  high  standing  in 
the  Church.  St.  Peter's  is  a  kind  of  focus  of 
Church  influence,  and  the  daily  prayers  as  well 
as .  the  Sunday  services  bring  together  num- 
bers of  the  very  best,  the  most  substantial  and 
thoroughgoing  churchmen  in  the  country. 
Last  Sunday  was  indeed  a  'high  day,'  a  feast 
of  fat  things.  There  w^ere  fourteen  surpliced 
clergy;  not  a  black  gown  appeared  on  the  oc- 
casion; four  or  five  Bishops  were  present.  In 
the  morning  Bishop  Onderdonk  preached  an  ad- 
mirable, sound,  thorough  Church  sermon  on 
Church  Education.  He  is  very  much  such  a 
man  as  I  had  imagined  him,  short,  thick,  rather 
corpulent  in  personal  appearance,  a  real  Dutch- 
man,— full  of  vigor  and  energy,  prompt  and 
decided,  kind,  gentlemanly  and  rather  playful, 
a  word  for  everyone. 

*'In  the  afternoon.  Bishop  Ives  preached.  I 
have  spoken  of  him  before ;  he  is  a  noble  man, 
a  beautiful  writer  and  a  very  attractive 
preacher.  But  the  lion  of  the  day  was  Bishop 
Whittingham.     He  preached  in  the  evening,  and 


176  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

such  a  sermon!  He  is  a  tall,  graceful  figure, 
large  bead,  long  face,  good  looking  but  not 
handsome,  a  man  of  great  energy,  what  we 
call  a  go-ahead  man,  of  enlarged  and  compre- 
hensive views,  great  learning  and  most  pro- 
foundly respected  by  all  who  know  him.  The 
subject  of  his  sermon  was  the  contrast  between 
the  piety  of  the  present  age  and  that  which  the 
scriptures  enjoin  and  which  was  developed  in 
the  life  of  primitive  Christians.  'I  beseech 
you  that  ye  walk  not  as  other  Gentiles  walk.' 
It  was  a  noble  effort,  a  most  powerful  thrilling 
discourse  and  fearless,  faithful  protest  against 
modern  worldliness.  His  eloquence  is  not  that 
of  graceful  gesture,  musical  voice  and  melting 
persuasion,  but  the  eloquence  of  a  great  mind, 
laboring  intensely  with  great  thoughts.  It  is 
commanding,  like  the  rushing  of  a  mighty  tor- 
rent; he  soars  above  this  world  and  seems  to 
live  and  breathe  in  a  higher,  purer  atmosphere 
and  long  to  strive  to  draw  up  others  to  the  same 
high  dignity  and  privilege.  Would  to  God  we 
had  such  a  man  at  the  head  of  the  Church  in 
Ohio;  surely  then  the  Church  would  arise  and 
shine,  and  become  a  glory  and  a  blessing  in  the 
land.  .  .  . 

'*My  rebaptism  is  attracting  some  attention 
here.  I  presume  the  news  will  precede  me,  and 
beat  me  home.  I  care  not;  I  have  done  my 
duty.    I  leave  the  result  in  the  hands  of  God. 


THE  MINISTRY  177' 

* '  I  long  to  be  in  the  midst  of  my  little  parish 
at  work.  Do  remember  me  most  affectionately 
to  every  member  of  the  little  flock  and  may  God 
bless  them  all — with  all  spiritual  blessings  in 
heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  may  He 
bring  me  to  you  again  in  the  fullness  of  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel  of  peace. 

''Hoping  soon  to  see  you,  I  remain  as  ever, 

"Your  affectionate, 

''Heney." 

On  the  following  day,  he  writes  as  follows: 
''I  have  just  returned  from  the  Convention. 
After  considerable  debate,  the  house  proceeded 
at  half  past  nine  o'clock  to  vote  upon  the  Ox- 
ford subject.  I  cannot  stop  to  describe  the 
process.  There  were  so  many  resolutions, 
amendments  and  substitutes.  .  .  .  Suffice  it 
now  that  the  Church  is  safe,  sound  to  the  core. 
Praised  be  God!  The  enemies  of  her  peace  (I 
say  not  the  willful,  intentional  enemies)  have 
met  with  a  signal  defeat.  .  .  .  Oh,  if  you  could 
have  seen  the  Ohio  delegation!  .  .  .  Poor  Bro. 

D hung  on  to  Dr.  Brooks'  tail  to  the  last. 

Indeed  the  whole  delegation  just  followed  his 
beck.  They  were,  or  seemed  to  be,  a  perfect 
nose  of  wax  which  the  Dr.  twisted  to  suit  him- 
self. .  .  .  Good  night!  God  bless  you  and  the 
little  one!" 

The  long  debates  on  the  Oxford  Movement 


178  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

had  resulted  in  no  definite  action,  save  a  resolu- 
tion declaring  "the  liturgy,  offices  and  articles 
of  the  church  sufficient  exponents  of  her  sense 
of  the  essential  doctrines  of  Holy  Scripture; 
and  that  the  canons  of  the  church  aiford  ample 
means  of  discipline  and  correction  for  all  who 
depart  from  her  standards;  and  further  that 
the  General  Convention  is  not  a  suitable  tribu- 
nal for  the  trial  and  censure  of,  and  that  the 
church  is  not  responsible  for,  the  errors  of  in- 
dividuals, whether  they  are  members  of  the 
church  or  otherwise." 

The  storm  passed  with  less  violence  than  had 
been  anticipated.  It  was  soon  to  gather  in 
condensed  form  in  the  trial  of  Bishop  B.  T. 
Onderdonk  of  New  York.  Already  before  the 
Convention  assembled,  Bishop  Henry  U.  On- 
derdonk of  Pennsylvania  had  been  charged  in 
his  own  diocese  with  habits  of  intemperance, 
with  a  view  to  bringing  him  to  trial  before  his 
peers,  and  on  resigning  his  office  and  asking 
for  sentence  from  the  House  of  Bishops,  he 
was  suspended  from  all  public  exercise  of  the 
functions  of  the  ministry.  He  had  explained 
his  delinquencies  as  due  in  the  first  place  to  ill- 
ness and  great  pain.  *  *  This  sentence,  excelling 
in  severity  and  declared  by  the  distinguished 
legal  authority  of  Horace  Binney  to  be  not 
only  unjust,  but  uncanonical  and  illegal,  was 
submitted  to  without  protest  by  the  Bishop, 


THE  MINISTRY  179 

who,  if  he  had  shown  frailty,  had  displayed  a 
noble  manliness  of  acknowledgment  and  sin- 
cere repentance.  He  forthwith  gave  up  all 
use  of  stimulants ;  and  such  was  the  subsequent 
unsullied  sanctity  of  his  life  that  in  1856  his 
sentence  was  revoked.  It  is  unpossible  to 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  heated  state  of 
party  feeling  had  unconsciously  much  to  do 
with  the  whole  course  of  the  affair, ' '  ^  But 
this  was  unimportant  compared  with  the  trial 
and  condemnation  of  Bishop  Benjamin  T.  On- 
derdonk  of  New  York.  "With  great  ability  and 
success,  this  prelate  had  withstood  attacks 
made  in  the  Convention  of  his  own  diocese  up- 
on his  course  in  favoring  Tractarianism  and 
ordaining  Carey.  In  the  General  Convention, 
as  we  have  seen,  his  success  and  that  of  his 
supporters  had  been  equally  complete.  His 
opponents  now  had  recourse  to  other  tactics. 
Charges  of  immorality  were  brought  against 
him  by  four  ministers  and  a  layman,  and  the 
Bishops  were  forced  to  take  them  up.  He  was 
brought  to  trial,  on  December  10th,  1844,  be- 
fore a  court  of  seventeen  bishops,  and  after  a 
trial  of  three  weeks,  found  guilty  by  a  majority 
of  eleven  to  six.  The  accused  never  flinched 
from  the  assertion  of  his  innocence,  which  he 
maintained  to  the  day  of  his  death.  ''No  at- 
tempt to  commit  any  criminal  act,"  says  Wal- 

1  Tiffany,  p.  476. 


180  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

worth,  "was  either  proved  or  alleged.  .  .  . 
None  of  the  instances  (of  indiscreet  and  im- 
proper conduct)  alleged  against  him  had  oc- 
curred within  two  years  and  a  half  of  the 
trial."  ''It  has  been  surmised,"  writes  Tif- 
fany, "that  had  there  been  an  acknowledgment 
by  the  accused,  before  the  trial,  of  indiscretions 
which  had  been  misinterpreted  as  improprie- 
ties, no  trial  would  have  occurred.  The  treat- 
ment of  his  brother  of  Pennsylvania  does  not 
seem  to  warrant  such  a  conclusion.  There  was 
generally  a  stern  determination  to  vindicate 
the  moral  status  of  the  episcopate  in  the  face 
of  high  ecclesiastical  claims,  and  the  rumors  of 
gross  fault  were  such  as  to  furnish  an  oppor- 
tunity which  seemed  to  involve  an  obliga- 
tion. .  .  .  Bishop  Onderdonk  was  in  conse- 
quence suspended  and  never  restored,  though 
efforts  in  that  direction  were  made  by  the  New 
York  diocese.  ...  It  is  as  impossible  here  as 
in  tlie  case  of  his  brother  of  Pennsylvania  to 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  court  could  not 
escape  the  influence  of  theological  and  ecclesias- 
tical discussions.  "2  Though  it  belongs  to  a 
somewhat  later  date,  we  may  mention  here  the 
third  of  the  series  of  trials  of  bishops  which 
marked  this  epoch.  Bishop  G.  W.  Doane  of 
New  Jersey,  a  prelate  of  exalted  character, 
"had  been  forced  into  bankruptcy  in  his  at- 

2 Tiffany,  pp.  478,  479. 


THE  MINISTRY  181 

tempt  to  found  Burlington  College  for  the  sons 
and  St.  Mary's  School  for  the  daughters  of  the 
church.  Like  many  a  man  of  noble  ideas,  he 
lacked  the  financial  skill  to  embody  them  in  a 
isuccessful  institution."  In  the  preceding 
trials,  Bishop  Mcllvaine  had  apparently  taken 
no  part ;  but  he  was  now  one  of  three  bishops 
who  presented  Doane  for  investigation  for 
financial  irregularities.  The  trial  was  insisted 
on,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  bishop's  own 
diocese  had  exonerated  and  sustained  him  in 
two  conventions.  The  court  dismissed  the 
charges  on  this  ground  in  October,  1852.  On 
a  third  presentment,  a  court  of  twenty-one 
bishops  was  assembled  in  Camden,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1853;  but  such  legal  points  were  raised 
that  the  presentment  was  dismissed  and  the 
respondent  discharged  without  a  formal  trial. 
''The  trial  of  Bishop  Smith  of  Kentucky,  in  his 
own  diocese,  on  a  charge  of  inveracity,  resulted 
yet  more  grotesquely  than  the  fiasco  in  New 
Jersey.  The  court,  chosen  by  the  diocese,  re- 
turned the  verdict,  'Guilty,  but  without  the 
least  criminality.'  "^ 

The  disgrace  of  Bishop  Onderdonk  was  a 
substantial  victory  for  the  Evangelical  party 
in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  His  sup- 
porters felt  humiliated.  The  students  of  the 
General  Seminary  were  deprived  of  their  prin- 

3  Tiffany,  p.  481,  note. 


182  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

cipal  protector.  The  result  was  a  temporary 
cheek  to  Tractarianism  as  a  general  movement 
in  that  church.  Some  of  its  adherents  made 
their  submission  very  shortly  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  as  Walworth  in  1845  and  McMaster 
shortly  after.  These  two,  in  company  with 
Isaac  Hecker,  who,  like  Brownson,  had  made 
his  way  into  the  Church  on  independent  lines, 
sailed  for  Belgium  on  August  2nd,  1845,  to 
enter  the  Redemptorist  novitiate  at  St.  Trond. 
Another  of  this  set  of  students  was  Edgar  P. 
Wadhams,  afterward  the  first  Catholic  Bishop 
of  Ogdensburg.  He  was  received  in  June, 
1846.  This  year  saw  also  the  submission  of 
the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Augustine  liewit,  afterward 
Superior  General  of  the  Paulists  and  one  of 
the  greatest  priests  that  this  countiy  has  pro- 
duced ;  of  Sylvester  H.  Eosecrans,  afterward 
first  Bishop  of  Columbus,  whose  brother,  the 
famous  General  W.  S.  Rosecrans,  a  graduate 
of  Kenyon,  had  preceded  him  into  the  Church 
by  a  year;  the  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Iloyt,  of  St.  Al- 
bans, Vermont,  with  his  wife,  three  sons  and 
two  daughters;  and  Peter  H.  Burnett,  who 
afterward  became  the  first  American  Governor 
of  California  and  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  that  State.  James  Roosevelt  Bayley,  a 
nephew  of  Mrs.  Seton,  destined  in  after  life  to 
be  Bishop  of  Newark  and  Archbishop  of  Balti- 
more, had  been  received  in  1842.     The  stream 


THE  MINISTRY  183 

of  conversions  set  np  at  tliis  time  went  on 
rapidly  increasing,  helped  by  the  submission  of 
Newman  in  England  in  1845  and  tlie  uneasiness 
caused  by  the  famous  Hampden  case  in  1847 
and  the  Gorham  case  in  1849  and  1850.  Not- 
able instances  were  those  of  Robert  Armytage 
Bakewell  (1848),  a  student  of  the  General 
Seminary  of  New  York,  who  attained  high  dis- 
tinction as  a  Judge  in  St.  Louis ;  the  Rev.  John 
Engelbert  Snyder,  a  Lutheran  Minister  of  Col- 
umbus (1848) ;  the  Rev.  Doctor  Porter  of  Mt. 
Vernon,  Ohio  (1849),  who  for  twenty  years 
had  been  a  minister  of  the  Reformed  Church; 
Rev.  George  Lamb  Roberts,  an  Episcopal  min- 
ister of  Vincennes,  Indiana  (1850) ;  William 
Everett,  afterward  the  saintly  pastor  of  the 
Church  of  the  Nativity,  New  York;  and  many 
others.  Commodore  Benjamin  Franklin  Bache, 
M.D.,  U.  S.  N.,  who  was  for  a  time  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry  at  Kenyon,  became  a 
Catholic  in  1849.  During  the  Civil  War,  he 
rendered  great  service  to  the  Union  cause  by 
maintaining  at  his  own  expense  a  laboratory 
in  connection  with  the  Department  of  the  Navy. 
Jedediah  V.  Huntington,  one  of  the  most 
highly  cultivated  of  Anglican  clergymen  in 
America,  was  received,  together  with  his  wife, 
in  1849.  He  was  afterward  a  prominent  figure 
in  Catholic  literary  circles.  Finally,  in  the 
year  1852,  Levi  Silliman  Ives,  Bishop  of  North 


184  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Carolina,  one  of  the  most  universally  respected 
prelates  of  the  Anglican  commnnion,  made  his 
submission.     Sailing  for  Europe  with  his  wife, 
ostensibly  for  a  vacation   of   six  toionths,  he 
placed  his  abjuration  in  the  hands  of  Arch- 
bishop Hughes  of  New  York.     His  resignation 
of  his   office   and   coming   reception   into    the 
Catholic    Church    were    made    known    to    his 
diocesans  in  a  letter  from  Eome,  dated  Dec. 
22nd,  1852.     This  was  the  culminating  point  of 
the  Tractarian  Movement  in  America.     From 
that  time,  the   two   parties   in   the   Episcopal 
Church   seemed   to   moderate   gradually   their 
bitterness  of  feeling  and  to  be  more  inclined  to 
tolerate    differences    of    belief    and    practice, 
fundamental  and  mutually  destructive  as  these 
differences  plainly  were.     At  this  period,  Dr. 
Tiffany   estimates   the    number    of    Episcopal 
clergymen  received  into  the  Catholic   Church 
in  the  United  States,  as  ''hardly  more   than 
fifty."    In  the  year  1846,  Bishop  Mcllvaine, 
in    an    address    made    to    his    diocesan    con- 
vention   in    explanation     of    his     refusal    to 
consecrate     Mr.     Eichards'     new     church     so 
long   as   it  had   an   altar    (an   episode   which 
we  must  recount  later),  spoke  with  horror  of 
the  fact  that  ''nearly  one  hundred  clergymen 
of  our  Mother  Church  in  Great  Britain  and 
several  from  our  own  church"  had  gone  over 
to   Rome   in  the   space   of  five   or  six  years. 


THE  MINISTRY  185 

Hence  it  would  appear  that  almost  all  of  the 
fifty  mentioned  by  Tiffany  made  their  submis- 
sion between  the  years  18-1:6  and  1852, — a  rate 
of  progress  not  at  all  inferior,  probably,  to 
that  of  the  movement  in  England,  if  we  take 
note  of  the  comparative  fewness  of  the  mem- 
bers and  clergy  of  the  Anglican  Church  in  the 
United  States. 

But  this  is  to  anticipate  the  course  of  our 
history.  In  the  midst  of  these  exciting  events, 
Henry  Richards  found  himself  unexpectedly 
forced  into  a  position  of  prominence  in  the  pre- 
vailing controversies  and  compelled  to  feel  the 
weight  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine's  opposition  to 
Catholicizing  tendencies.  In  1815,  his  new 
church,  St.  Paul's,  was  completed  and  ready 
for  consecration.  Mr.  Richards  had  been  a 
great  favorite  with  the  Bishop,  and  his  wife 
enjoyed  the  same  distinction.  When  a  young 
lady,  she  had  nursed  back  to  health  the  Bish- 
op's son,  who  had  been  taken  seriously  ill  at 
Mrs.  Whiting's.  The  Bishop,  who  was  really  a 
large  hearted  man,  never  forgot  it,  and  his 
esteem  for  the  fair  nurse  was  not  lessened  by 
her  becoming  the  wife  of  his  favorite  pupil. 
But  after  it  became  understood  that  Mr.  Rich- 
ards had  taken  the  upward  track,  the  Bishop, 
who  was  most  keen  sighted  in  detecting  tend- 
encies to  Rome,  took  the  alarm  and  became 
very   suspicious.     Now  it  happened   that   the 


186  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

architect,  in  designing  the  interior  fittings  of 
the  church,  had  provided  as  communion  table 
an  altar  with  Gothic  panels,  corresponding 
with  the  style  of  the  building,  and  covered  with 
a  marble  slab.  There  was  no  intention  on  Mr. 
Richards'  part  to  conform  in  this  to  any  theory 
of  sacrifice  and  priesthood;  indeed  the  design 
seems  to  have  originated  with  the  architect 
without  suggestion.  Other  altars  of  the  same 
kind  in  several  churches  of  the  diocese  had 
never  attracted  condemnation  or  even  remark. 
Nevertheless,  to  his  great  surprise,  the  Pastor 
received  a  letter  from  the  Bishop  saying  that 
he  understood  there  was  a  Romish  altar  in  the 
church,  and  unless  it  were  removed  and  a  good 
honest  table  substituted  for  it,  he  could  not  per- 
form the  consecration.  On  enquiry,  it  was 
learned  that  it  was  not  the  fact  that  the  altar 
was  a  fixture  against  the  wall,  nor  that  it  was 
covered  mth  a  marble  slab,  that  constituted 
the  obnoxious  feature,  but  simply  that  it  was 
an  enclosed  structure,  a  box  with  panels.  The 
Minister,  his  Wardens  and  Vestry  and  the  con- 
gregation, or  at  least  a  large  portion  of  it,  felt 
deeply  aggrieved.  They  entertained  not  the 
slightest  doubt  that  the  position  taken  by  the 
Bishop  was  entirely  arbitrary,  inconsistent,  and 
even  ridiculous,  and  that  the  principle  laid  down 
by  him  would  not  be  sustained  by  the  general 
sentiment    of    the    church.     This    placed    Mr. 


THE  MINISTRY  187 

Richards  in  a  difficult  position  and  one  painful 
to  his  conscience.  The  whole  question  of  the 
extent  and  limitations  of  episcopal  authority 
and  of  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Christian 
Church  on  sacrifice  and  priesthood  pressed 
upon  him  for  immediate  and  practical  solution. 
Neither  he  nor  his  supporters  desired  a  con- 
flict with  their  Bishop.  In  this  situation,  Mr. 
Richards  wrote  for  advice  to  Hugh  Davey 
Evans,  a  lajmian  then  conducting,  with  great 
ability,  as  was  thought,  The  True  CatJiolic  of 
Baltimore,  Mr.  Evans  wrote  a  sympathetic 
letter,  under  date  of  January  19th,  1846,  in 
which  he  deplores  the  misfortune  of  the  Min- 
ister and  Vestry  in  being  under  an  un-Catholic 
bishop,  but  says  that  it  is  by  the  appointment 
of  the  Divine  Head  of  the  Church.  He  coun- 
sels entire  submission,  not  only  for  the  sake 
of  peace,  but  as  a  matter  of  religious  obedience, 
declaring  the  shape  and  material  of  the  altar 
to  be,  in  his  opinion,  entirely  a  matter  of  taste, 
indifferent  in  itself  so  far  as  its  relation 
to  the  sacrifice  is  concerned.  Incidentally,  he 
gives  a  definition  of  the  sacrifice  which  excludes 
altogether  the  Real  Presence  and  reduces  it  to 
an  offering  of  bread  and  wine,  as  mere  symbols 
of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  ^Ho  be  re- 
turned to  the  worshipers  in  a  spiritual  and 
mysterious  manner,  to  the  strengthening  and 
refreshing    of   their    souls    thereby,    as    their 


188  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

bodies  are  by  the  bread  and  wine. ' '  Referring 
to  a  decision  by  the  Court  of  Arches  in  Eng- 
land, he  says :  "Nor  should  I  attach  any  great 
importance  to  any  decision  of  an  English  Ec- 
clesiastical Court  in  any  matter  connected  with 
our  church  (in  the  United  States).  I  consider 
them  Erastian  institutions,  blots  on  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  and  know  that  they  administer 
rather  the  secular  laws  of  England  than  the 
true  ecclesiastical  law."  It  was  determined 
by  the  Rector  and  Vestry  to  submit  entirely 
in  fact,  but  to  enter  a  protest  against  the  right 
of  the  Bishop  to  impose  his  will  in  a  matter 
not  forbidden  by  any  rubric  or  custom,  thus 
leaving  the  question  of  principle  open  for 
future  determination.  On  March  15th,  1846, 
the  Vestry  met  and  passed  the  following  Reso- 
lutions, kindly  copied  for  the  present  work  by 
Mrs.  A.  Newton  Whiting,  daughter-in-law  of 
the  Senior  Warden,  with  permission  of  the  Rev. 
John  Hewitt,  the  present  Rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Church : — 

**Wliereas  the  Right  Revd.  the  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  has  addressed  a  communication  to  the 
AYardens  and  Vestrymen  of  this  Parish  in 
which  he  maintains  that  the  structure  erected 
in  St.  Paul's  Church  for  the  administration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  'Romish  Altar,'  and 
whereas  he  requests  that  that  structure  be  re- 


THE  MINISTRY  189 

moved  and  a  'table  with  legs'  substituted  in 
its  place — and  Whereas  he  has  intimated  that 
he  will  make  the  substitution  a  condition  of  the 
consecration  of  the  church,  and  that  he  will 
make  it  a  rule  of  conduct  in  the  consecration 
of  all  churches  in  the  diocese  for  the  future — 
Therefore:  Resolved  that  in  causing  the  said 
structure  to  be  erected  the  Wardens  and  Ves- 
trjTiien  of  St.  Paul's  Church  have  not  adopted 
anything  new  or  contrary  to  the  custom  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church — Resolved  2dly 
— That  so  far  from  having  any  intention  or 
desire  to  bring  into  our  church  the  errours  and 
corruptions  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  either  in 
doctrine  or  practice,  whether  covertly  or  openly, 
we  do  most  heartily  detest  those  errours  and 
corruptions  and  do  most  cordially  assent  to  and 
maintain  the  Protest  of  our  Church  against 
them — Resolved  3dly — That  as  the  Church  of 
Rome  has,  by  the  confession  of  all  candid  men, 
retained  many  things  truly  Catholic  both  in 
doctrine  and  practice,  we  cannot  sympathize 
with  those  who  profess  to  see  danger  in  every, 
even  the  minutest,  conformity  to  that  Church, 
knowing  full  well  that  such  a  sentiment  would 
deprive  us,  not  only  of  everything  that  identi- 
fies us  with  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  but  also, 
as  a  consequence,  of  every  peculiarity  that  dis- 
tinguishes us  from  the  various  sects  by  which 
we  are  surrounded — Resolved  4thly,  that  with 


190  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

reference  to  the  'Altar'  or  'Holy  Table'  in  par- 
ticular we  esteem  it  as  simply  a  matter  indiffer- 
ent what  its  form  shall  be,  so  that  it  be  not 
inappropriate  to  the  sacred  use  for  which  it  is 
designed,  and  therefore  we  cannot  but  deem  it 
inexpedient,  to  say  the  least,  that  the  minds 
of  the  members  of  our  churches  should  be  dis- 
turbed by  any  question  in  relation  to  it.  Re- 
solved 5thly,  That  although  we  do  not  recog- 
nize the  right  of  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  to 
interfere  in  the  matter  under  consideration  and 
although  we  feel  deeply  aggrieved  by  the  reso- 
lution he  has  adopted,  yet,  as  he  has  intimated 
that  he  has  conscientious  scruples  about  the 
consecration  of  a  church  which  has  such  a  struc- 
ture as  ours  for  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  as  we  feel  disposed  at  all 
times  duly  to  respect  the  conscientious  scruples 
of  our  Bishop — when  they  do  not  involve  any 
sacrifice  of  principle — and  as  we  believe  that  it 
will  conduce  most  to  the  peace  of  the  Church 
and  the  glory  of  God  to  jdeld  to  the  wishes  of 
the  Bishop  in  this  case,  we  do  therefore  hereby 
direct  the  building  committee  to  make  the 
change  requested." 

Another  letter  from  Hugh  Davey  Evans, 
written  April  6th,  seems  to  show  that  Bishop 
Mcllvaine,  as  was  natural,  was  not  disposed  to 
accept  this  submission  under  protest  as  entirely 


THE  MINISTEY  191 

satisfactory  and  that  he  insisted  upon  uncon- 
ditional surrender.  Meantime  the  recalci- 
trants, to  show  their  sincerity,  sawed  out  the 
Gothic  panels  on  three  sides  of  their  altar 
(someone  suggested  so  that  the  Bishop  could 
see  whether  there  were  any  Eomish  relics  or 
not)  and  finished  up  the  two  corners  as  pillars, 
thus  transforming  it  into  a  massive  table,  and 
the  Bishop  concluded  not  to  push  his  authority 
further.  The  church  was  duly  consecrated  on 
Augiist  11th,  1846. 

The  second  letter  of  Mr.  Evans  throws  some 
interesting  sidelights  on  the  relations  of  Bish- 
ops and  clergy  in  the  High  and  Low  sections 
of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  says :  "You  will 
oblige  me  by  sending  me  a  copy  of  the  instru- 
ment which  the  Bp.  requires  your  Vestry  to 
sign,  if  you  can  conscientiously  do  so.  The 
words  'spiritual  jurisdiction'  are  regarded  as 
a  great  bugbear  by  our  Low  Church  friends  in 
this  diocese.  A  church  in  this  city  remains  un- 
consecrated  although  ready  for  that  solemnity 
two  or  three  years  ago,  because  the  vestry  re- 
fuse to  sign  an  instrument  containing  these 
words.  The  same  words  constituted  a  topic  of 
attack  upon  a  canon  proposed  at  our  last 
diocesan  convention.  The  orthodox  doctrine 
among  our  said  friends  here  is  that  a  bishop 
has  no  authority  except  what  he  can  prove  by 
a  canon  of  the  American  Church,  construed 


192  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

with  all  the  strictness  which  we  lawyers  apply 
to  the  construction  of  a  penal  law.  In  Ohio,  it 
seems  that  a  very  dilferent  doctrine  prevails." 
Again:  "It  is  clear  that  his  present  claim  is 
one  of  absolute  and  unlimited  power  in  every- 
thing connected  with  the  church,  and  that  based 
upon  infallibility.  It  is  as  much  contrary  to  the 
principles  of  the  Church  to  attribute  infalli- 
bility to  the  Bp.  of  Ohio  as  to  the  Bp.  of  Rome." 
The  Reverend  Pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Church  and 
his  vestry  were  again  on  friendly  terms  of  cere- 
mony with  the  Episcopal  authority  of  the 
diocese.  But  in  the  next  Diocesan  Convention, 
Bishop  Mcllvaine  devoted  a  large  portion  of 
his  annual  address  to  a  defense  of  his  action 
in  the  matter  of  the  altar  and  of  the  new  posi- 
tion he  had  taken  up.  He  proved  with  great 
clearness  that  Altar,  Sacrifice  and  Priesthood 
were  strictly  correlative  terms,  and  that,  as 
there  was  neither  sacrifice  nor  priesthood  in 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  nor  its  pro- 
genitor, the  Church  of  England,  so  there  ought 
to  be  no  altar.  He  brought  a  formidable  array 
of  authorities  from  the  early  iVnglican  divines, 
Cranmer,  Latimer,  Ridley  and  numerous  others, 
showing  with  what  zeal  the  ancient  altars  had 
been  pulled  down  for  this  precise  reason,  and 
an  "honest  table  with  legs"  substituted.  "As 
it  was  only  a  supper,"  Mr.  Richards  writes, 
"  (albeit  the  Supper  of  the  Lord),  they  only  re- 


THE  MINISTRY  193 

quired  a  table.  To  be  thoroughly  consistent, 
they  insisted  that  an  Altar,  though  it  might  in 
one  sense  be  called  and  serve  the  purpose  of  a 
table,  was  a  dangerous  thing  because  it  tended 
to  keep  up  the  idea  of  sacrifice.  Altar  is  the 
correlative  of  Sacrifice,  therefore  do  away  with 
your  altars  and  substitute  honest  tables  with 
legs.  Table  is  the  correlative  of  Supper.  Of 
course,  if  I  had  chosen  to  contest  the  point  with 
the  Bishop,  I  could  have  proved  my  view  of  the 
case  as  clearly  as  he  did  his,  and  could  have 
fortified  it  with  a  Catena  Patrum  quite  as 
voluminous  and  respectable  as  his.  That  is 
really  what  is  the  matter  with  the  Episcopal 
Church,  not  to  say  Protestantism  generally, 
and  at  the  time  I  am  speaking  of  I  was 
making  the  discovery.  You  can  prove  she 
teaches  almost  anything  you  like.  I  also 
began  to  realize  in  a  most  convincing 
way  that  the  power  of  the  Bishops  of  that 
church  was  extremely  arbitrary,  and  that 
those  very  men  who  were  most  bitter  against 
what  they  characterized  as  the  tyranny  of  the 
hierarchy  of  Rome,  were  those  who  were  ever 
ready,  when  occasion  seemed  to  offer,  to  come 
down  with  a  heavy  hand  upon  those  who  op- 
posed them." 

That  portion  of  the  Bishop's  address  refer- 
ring to  the  controversy  was  ordered  by  the  Con- 
vention to  be  printed  in  five  hundred  copies. 


194  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

The  pamphlet  is  still  extant  under  the  title: 
^'Eeasons  for  Refusing  to  Consecrate  a  Chnrcli 
with  an  Altar." 

It  is  an  interesting  and  somewhat  amusing 
commentary  on  Bishop  Mcllvaine's  zealous 
crusade  that,  in  the  second  St.  Paul's  Church, 
on  the  corner  of  Broad  St.  and  Monroe  Ave., 
which  in  1889  replaced  (without  improving 
upon)  the  structure  erected  by  Mr.  Richards, 
an  uncompromising  altar  occupied  the  chancel. 
In  the  present  or  third  church,  beg-un  in  1903 
under  the  direction  of  the  present  energetic 
Rector,  Rev.  John  Hewitt,  the  altar  is  made  the 
central  and  dominating  idea  of  the  whole  struc- 
ture, is  called  the  Altar  of  the  Divine  Presence, 
and  is  in  every  respect  as  elaborate  and 
thoroughly  Catholic  in  design,  except  for  the 
apparent  absence  of  a  tabernacle,  as  the  altar 
of  anv  Catholic  Church  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CONVEESION 

1848—1852 

Mr.  Ricliards'  continued  ill  health  had  given 
cause  for  serious  solicitude  to  himself  and  his 
friends.  From  youth  he  had  been  subject  to  a 
severe  and  obstinate  dyspepsia,  which  was  in- 
creased by  any  prolonged  mental  application. 
During  the  year  1847,  his  sister  Isabella,  to 
whom  he  was  deeply  attached  and  who  had  mar- 
ried Mr.  James  Howell  of  Keokuk,  Iowa,  died  at 
her  home  there  and  Henry  went  on  with  the  in- 
tention of  bringing  her  children  to  their  grand- 
parents in  Granville.  This  journey  of  a  few 
weeks  made  with  the  primitive  means  of  travel- 
ing then  available,  the  saddle  and  the  stage- 
coach, had  the  effect  of  restoring  his  vigor  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  was  hoped  he  might  be 
able  to  go  on  with  his  work.  But  he  soon  fell 
back  and  felt  it  necessary  to  insist  that  his 
resignation  should  be  accepted  by  the  Vestry 
and  congregation,  in  spite  of  their  great  un- 
willingness to  let  him  go.  This  persistent  ill- 
ness, breaking  up  a  career  that  had  begun  so 
favorably,  seemed  a  great  misfortune;  but  as 

195 


196  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

the  event  proved,  it  was  in  truth  the  greatest 
of  blessings.  By  it,  the  pilgrim  on  the  road  to 
Catholic  Truth  was  led  to  scenes  where  he  could 
observe  that  Faith  in  practical  operation,  and 
this  just  at  the  time  when  his  mind  had  been 
prepared  by  a  long  course  of  reading,  thought 
and  discussion  to  understand  and  appreciate 
its  supernatural  efficacy.  By  the  month  of 
November,  1848,  he  had  decided  upon  a  jour- 
ney to  New  Orleans  and  a  somewhat  extended 
stay  in  that  city,  with  a  view  to  transferring  his 
family  thither  later  and  taking  up  his  perma- 
nent residence  in  the  South  in  case  circum- 
stances should  seem  to  justify  the  step.  His 
prospects  were  not  indeed  very  bright,  but  his 
courage  did  not  fail.  He  was  naturally  of-  a 
very  cheery  disposition,  in  spite  of  the  fits  of 
depression  due  to  illness,  and  it  was  particularly 
characteristic  of  him  not  to  worry  over  tem- 
poral needs  or  worldly  interests.  His  simple 
confidence  in  God's  tender  providence  never  de- 
serted him  throughout  life,  and  the  words 
^'Deus  providehit,  God  wUl  provide,"  were 
frequently  on  his  lips.  Two  relatives,  Levi 
Buttles  and  Hamilton  Smith,  entrusted  to  him 
the  task  of  introducing  into  New  Orleans  an 
invention  which  they  confidently  expected  to 
prove  a  commercial  success.  Hamilton  Smith 
was  afterward  for  many  years  Professor  of 
Physics  at  Hobart  College,  where  he  gained  a 


CONVERSION  197 

higli  reputation  in  the  scientific  world,  especially 
for  his  discoveries  and  inventions  in  photog- 
raphy. Another  friend,  Charles  Scott,  pro- 
prietor of  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  desired  Mr. 
Eichards  to  look  np  a  section  of  land  in  Arkan- 
sas, to  which  Scott  held  an  original  patent,  and 
if  possible  sell  it  for  him. 

Arrived  at  Cincinnati,  where  he  was  to  take 
the  steamboat  that  was  to  convey  him  down 
the  Ohio  River  to  the  Mississippi,  Mr.  Richards 
found  that  the  diocesan  Synod  of  the  Catholic 
Clergy  was  in  session  under  Bishop  Purcell, 
and  that  on  the  following  day,  which  was  Sun- 
day, strangers  would  be  admitted  as  usual  to 
the  services  in  the  Cathedral.  He  had  made 
such  progress  in  Catholic  principles,  in  spite 
of  his  stout  disclaimers  of  Romeward  tend- 
encies, that  a  strong  curiosity  had  been 
awakened  in  him  to  know  something  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  He  therefore  attended  the 
Solemn  Vespers.  The  gathering  of  Bishops 
and  priests  was  large  for  those  days,  for  the 
clergy  had  just  finished  their  annual  retreat, 
under  Bishop  Whelan  of  Richmond,  followed 
by  a  synod  of  the  diocese.  According  to  Mr. 
Richards'  notes,  the  venerable  Archbishop  of 
Baltimore  was  also  present;  but  this  is  prob- 
ably a  mistake.  The  general  impression  made 
upon  his  mind  by  this,  his  first  experience  of 
a  Catholic  service,  was,  as  he  records,  very 


198  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

favorable,  tliongli  lie  could  not  help  remarking, 
in  his  letter  to  his  wife,  on  the  "mummery" 
and  "the  idolatrous  action  of  the  adoration  of 
the  host." 

In  those  days,  the  great  means  of  travel 
southward  was  the  sternwheel  steamboats  on 
the  Mississippi  River.  Rivalry  ran  very  high 
between  the  various  lines  and  individual  boats, 
the  most  reckless  racing  was  incessantly  in- 
dulged in,  and  frequent  disasters  occurred  from 
fires,  explosions  and  contact  with  hidden  snags 
in  the  river  bed.  But  the  voyage  seems  at  least 
to  have  been  full  of  incident  and  interest.  Mr. 
Richards  notes  with  gratitude  that  the  kindly 
Captain  of  the  Moro  Castle  gave  him  passage 
at  half  rates,  as  a  clergyman.  Coming  to  Mem- 
phis, Tenn.,  our  traveler  landed  and  made  prep- 
arations for  a  journey  of  fifty  miles  into  the 
interior  of  Arkansas,  in  search  of  the  land  of 
his  friend  Scott.  His  account  illustrates  so 
well  the  difficulties  of  travel  at  the  time,  that 
it  is  perhaps  worth  transcribing.  "I  went  on 
horseback,  as  there  was  no  public  conveyance 
of  any  kind.  Having  crossed  the  Mississippi 
on  a  flat  ferry  boat,  I  struck  into  what  was  called 
the  old  military  road,  which  had  been  projected 
and  partly  built  across  the  lowlands  west  of  the 
river  by' an  appropriation  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment. For  a  few  miles  the  'pike'  was 
completed.     That  is,   the   trees  had  been  cut 


CONVERSION  199 

away  and  the  earth  thrown  np  to  the  depth  of 
two  or  three  feet.  It  was  then  midwmter,  and 
what  a  mudhole  it  did  make!  As  I  journeyed 
on,  I  found  this  road  in  all  stages  of  completion, 
gradually  tapering  otf,  if  I  may  use  the  ex- 
pression, till  there  was  actually  no  road  at 
all.  The  reason  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  ap- 
propriation of  Congress  had  given  out  and  no 
more  could  be  got.  I  at  last  found  myself  in 
the  midst  of  a  swampy  forest,  with  scarcely  a 
'blazed'  tree  to  show  where  the  road  had 
been  surveyed.  There  was  nothing  to  guide 
the  uncertain  way  of  the  stranger  but  the  tracks 
of  wagons  and  horses  which  had  been  over  the 
ground  before  and  which  seemed  spread  out  for 
miles  in  width.  In  answer  to  an  anxious  en- 
quiry put  to  a  stranger  whom  I  fortunately 
met  on  the  road,  I  was  told  to  go  ahead  and 
follow  the  tracks  and  I  would  be  sure  to  come 
out  right  in  the  end.  I  waded  for  miles 
through  water  knee-deep  to  my  horse  and 
finally  came  plump  up  against  a  large  lake. 
Then  I  observed  that  some  had  taken  the  right, 
some  the  left,  around  the  lake.  I  took  the  right, 
and  after  riding  some  distance  crossed  a  stream 
leading  into  the  lake,  almost  swimming  the 
horse,  and  so  passing  around  and  picking  my 
way  as  well  as  I  could,  I  finally  emerged  into 
the  open  country  with  something  like  a  road. 
...  I  came  to  a  little  settlement  towards  even- 


200  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

ing,  and  asked  for  entertainment  for  man  and 
beast  at  a  tolerably  respectable  log  cabin.  Of 
course  the  accommodations  were  not  the  best, 
but  I  was  glad  to  avail  myself  of  such  as  were 
to  be  had.  The  next  day,  I  reached  the  high- 
lauds  and  had  the  pleasure  of  enjoying  the  hos- 
pitality of  Col.  Cross  (I  think  his  name  was), 
who  was  a  planter  living  in  a  large  frame  house, 
built  after  the  southern  fashion  with  piazza  all 
round  and  very  open.  The  next  day  was  Sun- 
day, and  I  preached  to  his  negroes.  The  family 
were  present  at  the  services,  which  took  place 
in  one  of  the  large  rooms  of  the  house.  I  do 
not  think  I  was  very  happy  in  my  address  to 
the  darkies.  I  fear  I  said  too  much  about  the 
duties  of  their  position.  If  I  were  to  perform 
that  duty  now,  I  should  take  a  different  line 
and  I  have  no  doubt  I  should  make  a  much  more 
favorable  impression.  But  I  was  'green'  then 
in  my  knowledge  of  darkey  nature. 

''The  next  day  was  Christmas  and  it  snowed 
until  the  ground  was  white.  I  started  on  my 
journey,  and  with  such  directions  as  Col.  Cross 
gave  me,  I  was  enabled  to  pick  my  way  through 
field  and  wood  until  I  found  the  farm  I  was 
looking  for.  Lo,  there  was  a  squatter  on  it! 
He  was  surprised  to  see  me.  He  was  sick  too, 
and  I  undertook  the  negotiation  of  the  sale  of 
the  farm  under  rather  unfavorable  circum- 
stances.    However,  I  finally  arranged  that  he 


CONVERSION  201 

was  to  pay  a  certain  amount  to  our  lawyer  in 
Memphis  by  a  certain  time  and  we  would  then 
give  him  a  good  deed  of  the  property.  I  for- 
get how  many  miles  I  rode  through  the  woods 
to  find  a  lawyer  and  notary  to  draw  the  neces- 
sary instrument.  But  I  found  what  I  wanted 
at  a  small  village  of  quite  recent  date  in  the 
woods  on  the  Black  Eiver,  composed  of  log 
cabins  and  built  mostly  on  a  steep  hill-side  run- 
ning down  to  the  river.  Having  fulfilled  my 
mission  satisfactorily,  I  returned  to  Memphis 
by  the  same  road  by  which  I  had  come,  happy 
in  having  escaped  the  Bowie  knife  and  the  pis- 
tol of  the  reputed  fire-eating,  jaw  breaking  Ar- 
kansian.  ...  I  carried  then,  as  I  have  always 
done,  no  arms  of  defense  but  such  as  nature 
had  provided  me  with,  I  hope  I  may  never 
need  them  more  than  I  did  then." 

A  letter  from  Memphis  to  his  wife  has  a  num- 
ber of  details  illustrating  vividly  not  only  the 
state  of  his  mind  at  that  period,  but  also  the 
impressions  made  upon  him  by  the  conditions 
of  society  in  the  first  town  that  he  had  visited 
in  the  South. 

"Memphis,  Tenn.,  Sunday,  p.  m. 
"Dec.  17,  1848. 
"My  Dear  Wife: 

"The  first  thing  that  occurred  to  me  after  I 
landed  at  this  place,  found  my  quarters  and 


202  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

started  out  for  a  little  stroll,  was  the  darkey 
song  which  I  had  recently  heard  sung  under 
very  pleasant  circumstances: 

'"Ula,  Ala,  Ola— ee, 

Courting  down  in  Tennessee!' 

' '  Though  I  hope  you  will  not  suppose  I  have 
got  along  to  the  courting  part  yet,  here  I  am 
in  Tennessee.  .  .  .  xVrrived  here  about  twelve 
o'clock  to-day.  I  thought  at  first  it  was  too 
late  to  go  to  church  and  started  out  for  a  little 
walk  about  town,  and  finally  strayed  (very 
naturally  to  be  sure)  in  the  direction  of  the 
church,  till  I  found  myself  quite  unintention- 
ally at  the  door.  ...  I  thought  I  might  as  well 
drop  in,  if  for  nothing  more  than  to  gratify 
curiositv.  I  did  so,  when  I  found  before  me 
a  good  full  congregation  of  very  nice  respect- 
able looking  people,  and  up  in  the  pulpit,  half 
way  between  the  floor  and  the  top  of  the  house, 
jutting  from  the  end  wall  over  the  chancel,  like 
an  ancient  prisoner  hung  up  in  a  box  to  be  de- 
voured by  the  birds,  stood  a  tall,  thin,  gray- 
headed  man,  with  his  surplice  on,  declaiming 
with  much  energy  and  animation  on  the  Passion 
of  our  Lord,  I  heard  about  half  his  sermon, 
pronounced  it  pretty  good,  and  concluded  to 
enter  the  Revd.  Dr.  Page  on  my  list  of  approved 
priests  of  the  true  Catholic  Church.  .  .  . 

**I  imagine  myself  with  you  in  our  own  snug 


CONVERSION  203 

little  cottage,  enjoying  a  pleasant  Sunday  even- 
ing. You  are  just  about  at  tea  now,  you  at  the 
head  of  the  table,  Sister  Nett  on  your  right — or 
does  Harry  occupy  that  place  now  and  Sister 
the  seat  of  honor  in  that  old  arm-chair? — and 
Laura  Belle  on  your  left.  Oh,  my  dear,  sweet 
ones!  all  enjoying  yourselves,  while  little 
Willie,  the  rogue,  lies  in  the  cradle  and  kicks 
and  paddles  and  complains  that  he  is  not  fairly 
dealt  with.  And  what  does  Harry  say?  Does 
he  ask  for  Pa,  and  does  Laura  say,  'I  wish  he 
would  come  home,'  and  does  Mother  think  in 
silence,  'He  is  absent,  but  not  forgotten,'  and 
does  even  Sister  say,  '  'Twere  pleasant  were  he 
here?'  .  .  .  God  bless  you  and  keep  you!  The 
Father  of  Mercies  watch  over  us  all  and  in  due 
time  bring  us  together  again  in  health  and 
safety,  with  a  thankful  remembrance  of  his 
goodness!  How  pleasant  the  thought!  He  is 
there,  he  is  here.  He  watches  over  us  with  a 
Father's  love.  'He  doeth  all  things  well.'  In 
Him  we  are  one.  In  Him  we  are  not  separated 
but  joined  in  a  holy  communion.  And  what- 
ever betide  us,  all  things,  if  we  love  Him,  shall 
work  together  for  our  good.  .  .  . 

"Mr.  Gallagher  was  not  at  home.  .  .  .  His 
church  (St.  Paul's)  is  about  as  pretty  a  speci- 
men of  Gothic  architecture  as  I  have  seen  in  the 
Western  country.  To  my  great  astonishment, 
I  found  the  tall  spire  was  surmounted  by  a  bona 


204  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

fide  cross,  large,  bold,  prominent,  and  pic- 
turesque. I  was  so  pleased  that  I  could  almost 
have  crossed  myself  and  made  obeisance  to  it. 
Oh,  when  will  the  ultra-Protestant  feeling  get 
its  eyes  open  to  the  beauty  and  impressive  sig- 
nificance of  that  glorious  symbol  of  our  faith 
and  realize  the  absurdity  and  injustice  of  al- 
lowing it  to  remain  a  symbol  of  Romish  errour 
and  superstition!  .  .  . 

"You  would  be  astonished  to  see  the  slaves 
here.  Why,  they  are  the  very  aristocracy  of 
the  colored  race!  The  colored  ladies  flourish 
in  their  silks  and  satins,  their  cardinals  and 
visites,  wliile  the  colored  'gemmen,'  with  sleek 
hat,  well-fitted  broadcloth,  tight  boots  well 
tipped  and  turned  up,  vie  with  the  'brighter' 
race.  .  .  .  There  are  no  free  blacks  here.  I 
asked  Mr.  Massey  if  the  masters  clothed  their 
slaves  in  the  manner  I  have  described.  He 
says  they  give  them  holiday  money  and  little 
patches  of  ground  to  cultivate  for  themselves 
and  other  perquisites  which  they  lay  iip  and 
then  lay  out  in  gratifying  their  taste  for  the 
fine  arts,  <S:c.  They  are  happy  and  yet  not  su- 
percilious and  haughty.  I  had  congratulated 
myself  a  good  deal  on  these  indications,  so  con- 
firmative of  the  sentiments  I  had  begun  to 
cherish  .  .  .  before  I  left  home,  when  suddenly 
as  I  passed  down  the  street  my  attention  was 
arrested  by  a  sign,  suspended  over  an  old  house 


CONVERSION  205 

with  a  yard  and  a  high  board  fence,  bearing 
this  inscription:  'Slave  Market.  Henderson 
&  Co.,  Proprietors.'  That  made  me  sick.  I 
looked  through  the  gate  which  stood  partly 
open,  and  saw  the  poor  wretches  lying  about, 
old  and  young,  large  and  small,  male  and 
female,  waiting  for  purchasers.  I  pitied  them 
and  said,  'Alas !  what  extremes  meet  us  at  every 
turn  in  this  miserable  and  naughty  world!'  I 
quite  had  to  reason  with  myself  and  philoso- 
phize to  keep  my  pleasant  dreams  of  the  charms 
of  slavery  from  being  dissipated.  Oh,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  bujdng  and  selling  and  the 
whipping!  Ah,  yes!  true  enough!  And  so 
it  is  all  around.  If  it  were  not  for  the  cruelty 
and  perversity  of  man,  how  much  happiness 
there  would  be!  Never  mind!  When  we  get 
established  at  the  South,  we'll  decide  the  im- 
portant question  involved  in  this  serious  and 
grave  discussion." 

Resuming  his  voyage  down  the  Mississippi 
from  Memphis,  and  approaching  to  within  two 
or  three  hundred  miles  of  New  Orleans,  the 
traveler  was  struck  with  the  singular  aspect 
of  the  great  river  flowing  between  high  banks, 
called  levees,  thrown  up  so  as  to  constitute  an 
artificial  channel  and  raising  the  stream  con- 
siderably above  the  level  of  the  surrounding 
country.    He    was    also    impressed    with    the 


206  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

beauty  of  the  scenery  as  the  boat  glided  along 
through  the  fields  and  meadows.  Though 
midwinter,  the  season  was  as  mild  as  spring. 
The  homes  of  the  planters  whose  great  jDlanta- 
tions  bordered  the  river  were  often  aristocratic 
and  magnificent  mansions,  surrounded  by  trees 
and  shrubbery,  and  in  some  instances  by  flowers 
in  full  bloom.  He  does  not  tell  us  what  impres- 
sion was  made  on  him  by  the  bands  of  negro 
slaves  at  work  in  the  fields,  but  it  was  probably 
not  painful,  as  the  worst  evils  of  that  system 
were  usually  hidden  from  the  passing  traveler, 
and  the  contest  for  and  against  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  though  already  acute  in  the  States, 
had  not  yet  reached  that  stage  of  furious  bitter- 
ness that  it  was  afterward  to  assume. 

Arrived  in  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Richards  soon 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks, 
whose  wonderfully  eloquent  address  he  had 
heard  in  the  Convention  of  1844.  The  Rev. 
Doctor  was  then  President  of  Louisiana  Uni- 
versity and  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal 
Church.  He  also  met  Dr.  Nicholson,  then  re- 
cently converted  from  Methodism  to  the  Epis- 
copal faith  and  a  very  popular  preacher.  For 
the  latter,  Mr.  Richards  preached  several  times 
and  also  in  other  churches.  But  he  was  not 
satisfied  to  confine  himself  to  Protestant  asso- 
ciations. It  is  a  curious  fact  that  he  was  not 
conscious  at  any  time  of  making  up  his  mind  de- 


CONVERSION  207 

liberately  to  investigate  the  great  question  of 
the  claims  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  yet  from 
the  time  of  leaving  home  he  found  himself  in- 
clined to  make  use  of  every  favorable  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  anything  new,  either  in  theory 
or  practice,  in  regard  to  it.  Fortunately,  soon 
after  arriving  in  the  city  he  stumbled  upon  a 
Catholic  bookshop.  He  told  the  proprietor,  a 
Mr.  O'Donnell,  that  he  was  much  interested  in 
Catholic  questions,  and  was  immediately  in- 
vested with  the  ' '  freedom  of  the  store. "  "  Take 
anything  you  want,"  said  the  warm-hearted 
bookseller,  "take  it  to  your  room  and  return  it 
when  you  have  read  it."  He  purchased  a  copy 
of  Keenan's  Catechism,  and  going  soon  after 
to  Mobile,  Ala.,  to  visit  the  Rev.  Mr.  Massey, 
he  read  that  work  while  on  the  boat  crossing 
Lake  Ponchartrain.  This,  as  he  remarks,  was 
the  first  Catholic  book  he  ever  read.  It  made  a 
strong  impression  on  his  mind,  for  therein  for 
the  first  time  he  saw  a  clear,  concise  statement 
of  Catholic  doctrines  with  their  grounds,  and 
a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  character  of  Martin 
Luther  and  his  ''glorious  Reformation."  The 
harmonious,  consistent  character  of  the  whole 
system  appealed  to  him  strongly.  In  after  life 
he  frequently  remarked  that  in  controversy  a 
presentation  of  the  positive  truth  in  its  com- 
pleteness and  harmony,  is  often  better  than  a 
laborious  refutation  of  numberless  difficulties 


208  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

and  objections.  Once  the  truth  is  understood  in 
its  own  native  force  and  beauty,  objections  fade 
away  and  disappear  of  themselves. 

During  this  visit  to  Mobile,  an  incident  oc- 
curred that  showed  the  bent  of  his  mind  at  the 
time.  A  clerical  tea  party  was  given  in  his 
honor.  Several  clergymen  were  present,  and, 
as  usual,  they  soon  became  deep  in  the  discus- 
sion of  some  disputed  jDoiut  in  theology.  There 
were  as  many  opinions  as  men,  every  disputant 
insisting  upon  his  view  as  the  only  right  one, 
witli  no  prospect  of  an  agreement.  Mr.  Eich- 
ards  listened,  taking  no  part  in  the  discussion. 
When  a  lull  occurred,  he  remarked  quietly: 
*'Well,  brethren,  after  all,  would  it  not  be  a 
very  nice  arrangement  if  we  had  some  tribunal, 
some  final  Court  of  Appeal,  to  determine  these 
knotty  questions  and  set  our  controversies  at 
rest!"  This  came  upon  the  company  like  a 
thunderbolt  from  a  cloudless  sky.  It  put  a 
stop  to  all  discussion  for  the  time ;  but  no  doubt 
from  that  moment  his  fellow-clergj^men  looked 
upon  him  with  suspicion,  and  each  one,  on 
hearing  a  few  years  later  of  his  conversion 
to  the  Church  of  his  Fathers,  exclaimed:  ''I 
am  not  surprised.  I  knew  long  ago,  from  un- 
mistakable indications,  that  he  was  tending 
Eomeward. " 

On  returning  to  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Eichards 
borrowed  the  work  of  Archbishop  Kenrick  on 


CONVERSION  209 

''The  Primacy  of  the  Apostolic  See."  The 
very  first  chapters  interested  him  strongly.  He 
was  particularly  struck  by  the  testimony  of 
St.  Cyprian  there  quoted.  The  great  treatise 
on  the  "Unity  of  the  Church,"  written  by  this 
Father  who  lived  from  the  year  200  to  258,  was 
then  new  to  Mr.  Richards  and  came  upon  him 
as  a  revelation.  The  language,  he  remarks,  is 
so  clear,  so  positive,  so  unmistakable,  that  the 
only  wonder  is  that  any  candid  man  can  read 
it  without  being  convinced  of  the  truth  itself  as 
well  as  of  the  fact  that  it  was  the  doctrine  of 
the  Church  at  the  time  in  which  he  wrote. 
Moreover,  as  St.  Cyprian  is  famous  in  ecclesias- 
tical annals  for  his  controversy  with  Pope  St. 
Stephen  in  regard  to  rebaptizing  heretics,  he 
cannot  be  suspected  of  undue  bias  in  favor  of 
Rome.  He  was  so  near  the  first  age  that  the 
inference  is  quite  inevitable  that  the  doctrine 
was  derived  from  the  Apostolic  period.  After 
quoting  the  passages  in  which  Our  Lord  con- 
fers upon  Peter  the  power  of  the  keys,  of  feed- 
ing the  flock,  &c.,  St.  Cyprian  goes  on  to  say: 
"Upon  that  one  individual  he  builds  his  church, 
and  to  him  he  commits  his  sheep  to  be  fed. 
And  although  after  his  resurrection,  he  gives  to 
all  the  Apostles  equal  power  .  .  .  yet,  to  mani- 
fest unity,  he  disposed  by  his  authority  the 
origin  of  the  same  authority,  which  begins  from 
one.     Even  the  other  Apostles  were  certainly 


210  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

wliat  Peter  was,  being  endowed  with  equal  par- 
ticipation of  honor  and  power,  but  the  begin- 
ning proceeds  from  Unity,  and  the  Primacy  is 
given  to  Peter,  that  the  Church  of  Christ  may 
be  shown  to  be  one  and  the  Chair  one."^ 

Pondering  over  these  and  similar  quotations, 
Mr.  Richards  had  a  happy  thought.  There  was 
the  noted  Dr.  Hawks,  "Historiographer  of  the 
Church,"  a  learned  and  able  man,  no  doubt 
thoroughly  familiar  with  all  points  of  Ecclesi- 
astical History.  Why  not  call  upon  him,  and 
ask  him  to  verify  and  explain  the  citations? 
Mr.  Richards  called  in  fact  upon  the  learned 
Doctor,  who  received  him  in  his  library.  The 
visitor  told  his  host  frankly  that  he  had  been 
reading  Kenrick  on  the  Primacy  and  that  he 
was  anxious  to  know  whether  the  quotations 
from  Cyprian  were  authentic  and  how  far  they 
were  borne  out,  in  their  obvious  sense,  by  the 
context.  The  Doctor,  after  long  search,  found 
a  copy  of  the  Father  in  question  and  turned  the 
leaves  over  and  over,  but  seemed  unable  to  find 
what  he  sought.  Finally  he  closed  the  book  and 
remarked  that  there  was  one  consideration 
which  he  had  always  looked  upon  as  conclusive 
against  the  doctrine  of  the  Supremacy  of  the 

1  The  text  of  this  famous  passage,  as  quoted  by  Mr.  Rich- 
ards, is  apparenth'  a  translation  of  one  of  that  family  of 
manuscripts  which  combine  two  alternative  versions.  As  the 
sense  of  the  two  is  equivalent  and  both  are  now  attributed  to 
St.  Cyprian  himself,  the  value  of  his  argument  is  not  im- 
paired. 


CONVEESION  211 

Pope.  It  was  that  the  successor  of  St.  Peter, 
who  was  not  an  Apostle,  lived  when  the  Apostle 
St.  John  was  still  alive,  and  the  idea  that  an 
Apostle  should  be  subject  to  one  who  was  not 
an  Apostle  seemed  to  him  so  absurd  that  he 
could  not  accept  the  doctrine  of  the  Supremacy 
of  the  Bishop  of  Eome ! 

The  impression  made  on  the  enquirer's 
mind  by  this  manifest  shuffling,  as  he  could 
not  but  consider  it,  may  be  imagined.  The 
authority  to  whom  he  had  referred  with  so 
much  confidence  had  plainly  avoided  making 
the  simple  reference  desired,  and  had  taken 
refuge  in  an  extraordinary  specimen  of  logical 
argumentation.  He  withdrew  with  the  very  un- 
favorable impression  that  a  man  of  the  Rever- 
end Doctor's  reputed  learning  must  have  been 
perfectly  familiar  with  the  argument  from  the 
testimony  of  St.  Cyprian,  and  that  his  reason 
for  not  giving  more  satisfaction  to  the  enquiries 
was  that  he  had  no  adequate  explanation  to 
offer. 

While  in  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Richards  took  oc- 
casion to  make  frequent  visits  to  Catholic 
churches.  The  season  of  Lent  afforded  him 
opportunities  of  gratifying  his  curiosity.  On 
Sundays,  he  generally  preached  in  some  Epis- 
copal pulpit  and  then  strayed  into  some  Catho- 
lic church  where  he  became  an  interested 
observer  of  both  the  services  and  the  congrega- 


212  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

tion.  He  had  alwavs  told  ''dissenters"  that 
the  only  way  to  appreciate  the  Episcopal  serv- 
ice was  to  join  in  it  and  conform  to  the  ritual, 
and  he  now  found  himself  unconsciously  putting 
his  principles  in  practice  in  regard  to  Catholic 
services. 

As  a  result,  he  was  deeply  impressed,  more 
particularly  with  the  manifest  reverence  and 
devotion  of  the  people  in  the  house  of  God. 
He  noticed  that  the  ladies  in  the  French 
churches  came  generally  dressed  in  sober  black, 
which  seemed  to  him  appropriate.  He  con- 
fesses that  he  was  touched  with  the  devotion 
of  some  of  the  beautiful  young  Creoles,  who  ap- 
peared to  have  left  the  world  for  a  time  and  to 
have  given  themselves  to  the  pensive  work  of 
penance  and  prayer  with  true  French  abandon. 
The  scene  at  the  old  French  cathedral,  dedicated 
to  St.  Louis,  made  an  indelible  impression  on 
his  memory.  Before  visiting  the  city,  he  had 
heard  it  remarked  by  Protestant  friends  who 
had  been  there  that  if  he  wished  to  see  Catholi- 
cism in  all  its  vulgar  and  disgusting  features, 
he  should  go  to  the  old  French  cathedral. 
What  repelled  and  disgusted  them,  edified  and 
attracted  his  more  spiritual  and  unworldly 
nature.  He  beheld  a  crowded  congregation,  the 
aisles  as  well  as  the  seats  being  fairly  packed 
with  whites  and  blacks  of  all  shades,  all  de- 
voutly bent  upon  the  great  business  of  worship- 


CONYEESION  213 

ing  God  in  His  holy  temple.  He  noticed  that 
in  some  instances  the  slaves  sat  in  the  same 
benches  with  their  masters  and  all  received 
Hol-y  Communion  at  the  same  altar  rail.  Gray- 
headed  negroes,  bowed  with  age,  knelt  in  the 
aisles  and  recited  their  beads  with  an  air  of  the 
most  absorbed  devotion.  ''Here,"  he  said  to 
himself,  "is  the  realization  of  my  dream  of 
what  the  Church  ought  to  be,  the  Church  of  the 
poor  as  well  as  of  the  rich.  Here  indeed,  'the 
rich  and  the  poor  meet  together,  for  the  Lord  is 
the  maker  of  them  all!'  "  "I  had  been  con- 
tending for  years,"  he  writes,  "that  the  Epis- 
copal Church  was  not  necessarily  the  church  of 
the  rich  and  prosperous,  as  was  generally 
charged.  But  the  results  of  my  efforts  to  dis- 
prove the  charge  practically  by  bringing  the 
poor  into  my  own  church  had  not  been  of  a  very 
encouraging  nature.  But  here  in  the  Catholic 
Church  (it  was  the  same  in  all  their  churches) 
was  the  realization  of  all  that  I  had  hoped  and 
longed  for,  but  never  yet  found.  It  made  a 
great  impression  upon  me.  I  felt  that  that  was 
the  place  for  me,  that  there  I  would  like  to  be. 
It  was  entirely  in  accordance  with  my  ideas  of 
the  true  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  I  was  con- 
scious of  a  strong  impulse  to  cast  in  my  lot 
amongst  them." 

Another  feature  of  the  Catholic  Church— if 
it  can  be  called  a  mere  feature,  and  not  the 


214  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

very  essence — that  appealed  to  Mr.  Eichards* 
religious  nature  most  powerfully,  was  the  prac- 
tical operation  of  the  Sacramental  System. 
His  first  steps  toward  the  ancient  historic 
Christianity  had  been  prompted  by  the  doc- 
trine of  baptismal  regeneration.  As  we  have 
set  forth  from  his  own  notes  in  another  place, 
he  had  early  come  to  look  upon  this  as  a  funda- 
mental question,  upon  which  the  very  idea  and 
nature  of  the  Christian  Church  and  the  whole 
supernatural  system,  the  entire  economy  of 
God's  dealings  with  redeemed  human  nature, 
must  depend.  He  now  saw  the  sacramental 
system  in  its  entirety  in  daily  operation  upon 
the  souls  of  men.  He  saw  the  Church,  as  a  ten- 
der Mother,  solicitously  attending  the  steps  of 
her  children  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  and 
at  every  juncture  of  their  lives  opening  to  them 
stores  of  special  graces  and  assistance.  He  saw 
the  numerous  babies  brought  by  their  god- 
parents and  relatives  for  baptism;  he  saw  the 
people,  young  and  old,  crowding  to  the  con- 
fessional with  serious  and  downcast  air  and 
coming  from  it  with  a  look  of  peace  and  solemn 
happiness  on  their  faces.  At  every  early  mass 
on  Sundays  (he  does  not  record  that  he  made 
observations  on  weekdays)  the  communion  rails 
were  thronged  bv  devout  crowds  of  black  and 
white,  poor  and  rich,  and  here  again  their  rapt 
expression  as  they  approached  and  came  from 


CONVERSION  215 

the  Holy  Table  made  the  Real  and  Tremendous 
Presence  almost  sensible.  He  saw  the  funerals, 
with  their  somber  vestments  and  strange 
solemn  chants;  and  although  he  could  not  see 
the  conferring  of  Extreme  Unction  and  the 
Viaticum  upon  the  dying,  still  he  probably 
formed  some  idea  of  their  efficacy  from  his 
reading  and  could  guess  at  the  consolation  and 
tranquillity  that  they  would  impart  in  the  last 
terrible  hour.  In  all  of  these  sacred  functions, 
it  was  plain  that  both  clergj^  and  people  did 
not  regard  themselves  as  engaged  in  mere  out- 
ward ceremonies,  however  holy,  but  as  dis- 
pensing and  receiving  the  grace  of  God  itself, 
and  as  coming  in  direct  contact  with  Christ  the 
Redeemer,  who  pours  out  the  merits  of  His  pas- 
sion and  precious  blood  through  the  channels 
that  He  has  Himself  appointed.  The  careful 
observer,  prepared  by  his  own  labors  and 
discouragements  in  the  help  of  souls,  could 
not  but  recognize  the  vast  power  and  actual 
efficiency  of  this  sacramental  system  for 
maintaining  and  increasing  holiness  of  life 
and  elevated  union  with  God.  Here  again 
he  saw  his  dreams  realized,  and  the  mighty 
figaire  whose  vague  lineaments  had  some- 
times floated  before  his  interior  vision,  was 
here  revealed  in  all  her  majesty  and  super- 
natural vigor. 

'It  is  a  little  curious,  perhaps,"  writes  Mr. 


a- 


216  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Richards,  ''that  with  the  progress  I  had  made 
in  the  direction  of  the  Catholic  Church  since 
leaving  home,  I  did  not  take  pains  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  some  priest  or  at  least  some 
intelligent  Catholic  layman.  I  can  scarcely 
tell  why  I  did  not.  But  after  I  reached  home 
and  was  charged  with  having  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  some  of  those  wily  Jesuit  priests,  who 
had  perverted  my  mind  and  drawn  me  away 
from  loyalty  to  my  own  church,  I  was  very  glad 
that  I  could  say  that  I  had  not  spoken  to  a  sin- 
gle priest  since  my  departure." 

As  the  spring  of  1849  wore  on,  Mr.  Richards 
decided  to  give  up  his  husiness  engagements  in 
New  Orleans    and    return    to    Columbus.    He 
saw  no  sufficient  prospects  to  justify  the  re- 
moval of  his  family  to  the  South  and  he  could 
not  bear  to  be  longer  away  from  them.    By  this 
time  he  was  fairly  well  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  the  claims  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  be  the 
true  and  only  Church  of  Christ,  founded  by 
Him  and  entrusted  with  the  perpetuation  of 
His  mission  to  teach  all  nations  with  infallible 
and  unfailing   certainty.     Before   leaving   the 
city,  he  provided  himself  with  a  copy  of  Milner's 
End  of  Controversy,  while  Mr.  O'Donnell,  the 
zealous  and  kindly  bookseller,  presented  him 
with  a  copy  of  The  Spirit  of  Ligouri,  both  of 
which  works  he  read  with  the  greatest  interest 
on  the  way.     In  the  Spirit  of  Ligouri,  the  little 


CONVERSION  217 

treatises  of  the  Saint  on  the  Practice  of  Per- 
fection, On  Conversing  Familiarly  with  God, 
On  Divine  Love  and  the  Means  of  Acquiring  It, 
On  Confornaity  to  the  Will  of  God,  On  the  Prac- 
tice of  Meditation  and  on  Examen  of  Conscience 
with  a  dissertation  on  Sorrow,  Confession, 
&c.,  giving,  with  theological  exactness,  state- 
ments of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  on  these 
subjects,  were  a  new  revelation  to  a  mind  long- 
ing no  less  for  solid  devotion  than  for  certainty 
of  faith.  They  opened  up  a  new  world  full  of 
charming  views,  and  were  read  with  the  great- 
est avidity  and  delight. 

On  this  northward  journey,  an  unexpected 
incident  occurred  at  Louisville,  Kentucky.  At 
that  point,  owing  to  the  falls  in  the  river,  the 
boats  passed  through  a  canal,  and  Mr.  Richards, 
with  several  other  passengers,  got  out  and 
walked  on  the  towpath.  AMiat  was  his  surprise 
to  meet  a  member  of  his  family,  John  Adair 
McDowell,  with  a  company  traveling  in  the 
opposite  direction.  Mr.  McDowell  had  married 
Mrs.  Richards'  younger  sister,  Geraldine 
Cowles.  He  was  a  tall  and  very  handsome 
man,  very  like  his  brother,  General  Irwin  Mc- 
Dowell, who  was  afterward  in  command  of  the 
Union  forces  at  the  ill-fated  battle  of  Bull  Run. 
John  was  full  of  courage  and  ability.  He  was 
now  with  his  companions  on  the  way  to  Cali- 
fornia, being  infected  with  the  gold  fever  which 


218  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

was  just  then  throwing  the  whole  country  into 
excitement.  Stopping  on  the  tow]:)ath,  the  two 
men  talked  hurriedly  as  the  boats  dragged  their 
slow  way  through  the  canal.  Henry  told  the 
story  of  his  change  of  conviction  and  sentiment 
in  religious  matters.  It  was  uppermost  in  his 
thoughts,  the  one  all-important  thing,  and  he 
could  not  refrain  from  speaking  of  it  at  once 
and  most  earnestly.  But  Jolm  listened  rather 
coldly.  His  first  question  was:  ''What  will 
those  at  home  think!  AVhat  will  Aunt  Orrell 
say?"  Henry  thought  he  did  not  care  what 
they  thought  or  said,  his  convictions  were  not 
to  be  shaken.  But  in  the  simplicity  of  his 
sincere  and  earnest  nature,  he  imagined  that 
he  had  only  to  tell  the  story  of  his  change, 
with  the  circumstances  that  led  up  to  it  and  the 
arguments  that  compelled  it,  to  bring  them  all 
to  look  upon  the  matter  in  the  same  light.  He 
was  to  discover  to  his  disappointment  and 
chagrin  that  however  ready  Protestants  may 
be  to  follow  their  clergj^man  in  his  changes  of 
belief  and  practice  even  to  the  very  door  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  the  moment  they  find  to  what 
end  those  advances  logically  lead  him,  they 
generally  recoil  in  dread,  with  no  further  argu- 
ment or  investigation.  Reason  and  history 
would  seem  to  have  very  little  weight,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  against  the  inborn  and  ob- 
stinate prejudice  which  is  aroused  by  the  very 


CONVERSION  219 

name  of  the  Clmrch.  Henry  was  obliged  to 
content  himself  with  telling  John  frankly  and 
emphatically  that  he  ought  to  be  a  Catholic 
and  that  if  he  would  take  the  pains  to  examine 
the  subject  impartially,  he  would  surely  become 
one.  He  thrust  into  his  hands  the  copy  of 
Milner's  End  of  Controversy  and  the  two  men 
parted. 

On  Mr.  Richards'  arrival  at  his  home  in 
Columbus,  he  met  a  furious  storm  of  opposition. 
At  the  announcement  to  his  relatives  and  inti- 
mate friends  of  his  change  of  religious  con- 
victions, they  were  all  greatly  shocked.  His 
wife's  mother,  Mrs.  Laura  Kilboume  Cowles, 
was  seized  forthwith  with  hysterical  spasms, 
screaming  and  frothing  at  the  mouth,  so  that  it 
was  necessary  to  send  in  haste  for  a  physician. 
His  wife  was  too  gentle  and  too  absolutely  de- 
voted to  her  husband  to  indulge  in  any  re- 
proaches. But  she  was  deeply  disturbed  and 
grieved;  and  her  air  of  anxiety  and  profound 
sorrow  caused  him  keener  suffering  than  any 
violent  outbreak.  Cynthia's  elder  brother. 
Havens,  expostulated  with  him  earnestly  on  the 
folly  and  madness  of  his  course.  "See,"  he 
exclaimed,  "what  you  are  doing.  You  are 
killing  Mother  and  mortifying  and  disgracing 
us  all ! "  When  Henry  declared  that  in  matters 
of  religion  a  man  must  follow  the  dictates  of 
his  judgment  and  conscience  without  regard  to 


220  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

material  interests,  he  replied  that  Henry  had 
plainl}"  been  seized  with  a  fit  of  enthusiasm  on 
the  subject  of  the  Catholic  Church,  without  be- 
ing sufficiently  informed.     ' '  Wait  awhile, ' '  said 
he,  ''don't  be  in  such  a  hurry.     This  is  too  im- 
portant a  matter  to  be  decided  without  the  most 
patient,    careful   study."    He    suggested   that 
Henry  should  read  over  their  own  standard  au- 
thors more  carefully,  and  should  try  to  fortify 
himself  against  the  ''plausible  reasonings  of 
the  insidious  Jesuits,  &c."    Mr.  Richards  re- 
marks that  he  had  been  studying  these  standard 
authors  for  years,  and  had  found  that  one  of 
the  greatest  difficulties  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
lay  in  the  very  fact  that  the  standard  authors 
did  not  agree   among  themselves,  but  repre- 
sented all  phases  of  doctrine  from  the  lowest 
Arminian    Semi-Pelagianism    to    the    highest 
Catholic  teaching,  with  the  exception  perhaps 
of  the  Pope's  supremacy.    Mr.  Richards  had  a 
strong  respect  and  affection  for  his  brother-in- 
law,  Havens  Cowles,  who  was  a  man  of  unselfish 
character  and  of  sound  judgment  on  every  sub- 
ject but  the    Catholic   Church.    After   Henry 
had  been  a  Catholic  some  time.  Havens  told 
him  on  one  occasion  that  he  did  not  wish  to  be 
talked  to  on  that  subject;  he  did  not  intend  to 
speak  or  read  about  it.    He  did  not  wish  to 
have  his  mind  disturbed.     The  writer  of  these 
lines  remembers  that  once  after  the  removal 


CONVEESION  221 

of  the  family  to  the  East,  ''Uncle  Havens" 
came  on  a  visit  from  the  West.  The  conversa- 
tion could  not  be  kept  from  turning  on  religion 
and  Havens  declared  that  he  did  not  believe 
that  Henry  read  his  Bible  and  studied  it  so 
well  as  a  Catholic  as  he  had  been  accustomed 
to  do  in  former  times  when  an  Episcopalian,  an 
imputation  that  was  stoutly  denied.  Shortly 
after,  the  discussion  getting  to  the  subject  of 
the  Real  Presence  of  our  Lord  in  the  Blessed 
Eucharist,  Mr.  Richards  quoted  the  famous 
sixth  chapter  of  St.  John,  and  finally,  taking 
his  Bible  from  the  shelf,  read  the  whole  chapter 
to  his  brother-in-law,  pointing  out  its  obvious 
application,  especially  in  the  latter  portions,  to 
the  doctrine.  So  clear  did  his  comments  make 
the  interpretation,  that  Havens  was  completely 
discomfited,  only  murmuring,  in  a  shamefaced 
way,  that  although  he  had  explained  that  very 
chapter  to  his  Bible  Class  a  few  Sundays  be- 
fore, he  had  never  seen  its  meaning  in  that  light. 
We  children,  who  were  accustomed  to  hear  our 
Father  read  us  a  passage  from  the  Bible  every 
morning  at  family  prayers,  considered  this  a 
victorious  refutation  of  his  charge  of  neglect 
of  the  scripture. 

The  expostulations  of  relatives  and  the  diffi- 
culties of  his  position  were  not  without  their 
effect  on  the  new  convert's  resolution.  Im- 
mediately upon  returning  to  Columbus,  he  had 


222  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

called  upon  the  Rev.  Caspar  Borgess,  then  pas- 
tor of  the  Catholic  church  of  the  Holy  Cross  in 
that  city,  afterward  first  Bishop  of  Detroit. 
To  him  Mr.  Richards  made  known  the  state  of 
his  mind,  which  then  certainly  foreshadowed  a 
speedy  entrance  into  the  Church.  Yet  more 
than  two  years  elapsed  before  this  event  ac- 
tually took  place.  For  this  hesitation  and 
delay,  Mr.  Richards  condemned  himself  most 
bitterly  throughout  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  looked  upon  it  as  a  great  disloyalty  to  God's 
grace  and  an  offense  against  the  Truth  suffi- 
ciently made  known  to  him ;  and  he  attributed  to 
the  infinite  mercy,  long  suffering  and  forbear- 
ance of  Almighty  God  the  fact  that  he  did 
finally  gain  strength  to  take  the  stop.  ''While 
I  was  South,"  he  writes  of  this  time,  in  his 
notes  to  his  children,  "I  of  course  kept  your 
mother  informed  of  the  progress  of  my  intel- 
lectual convictions,  so  that  she  was  not  at  all 
surprised  to  know  my  determination,  or  rather 
my  desire,  to  become  a  Catholic.  .  .  .  Sister 
Antoinette  had  also  read  my  letters,  and  I  think 
she  must  have  been  favorably  impressed,  espe- 
cially as  a  young  friend  of  hers,  a  Mr.  Robert 
Murphy,  who  was  particularly  attentive  to  her 
and  to  whom  she  was  evidently  quite  partial, 
spoke  with  respect  and  approval  of  some  things 
in  the  Catholic  Church.  I  have  often  thought 
that  perhaps  if  I  had  had  the  courage  at  that 


CONVERSION  223 

time  to  declare  myself  a  Catholic  and  go  for- 
ward and  do  my  duty,  slie  and  your  mother 
would  have  followed  me.  As  it  was,  I  delayed, 
and  she  died  an  Episcopalian  and  your  mother 
did  not  join  me  until  three  years  after  my  con- 
version. ...  It  was  soon  after  that  event  that 
I  stood  by  the  dying  bed  of  that  poor  child. 
.  .  .  She  was  gay  and  lighthearted  and  fond  of 
attention  and  company,  but  very  correct  and 
precise  in  her  notions  of  propriety.  She  was 
not  naturally  much  inclined  to  piety,  though  a 
good,  conscientious  girl.  She  was  always 
rather  delicate  and  frail,  and  the  seeds  of  con- 
sumption early  developed  themselves  in  her 
constitution.  She  and  I  were  very  ill  in  the 
same  house  at  the  same  time.  Through  the  in- 
finite mercy  of  God,  I  recovered,  and  the  grace 
and  the  opportunity  to  repent  and  do  my  duty 
were  vouchsafed  to  me.  She  died,  and  as  I 
stood  by  her  deathbed,  to  which  I  had  been 
summoned  in  haste,  she  seemed  to  be  not 
entirely  satisfied.  She  was  anxious  and 
troubled,  as  though  looking  for  something  cer- 
tain to  rely  upon.  What  could  I  say?  I  was 
a  Catholic,  she  a  Protestant,  or  rather  a  non- 
Catholic,  and  trembling  on  the  verge  of  eter- 
nity. I  said:  "Remember  Our  Blessed  Lord 
says,  'Come  unto  Me,  all  you  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest!'  Trust 
in  the  infinite  mercy  of  God  through   Jesus 


224  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Christ,  who  has  suffered  and  died  for  us." 
'*0h,"  said  she,  "is  that  all?"  It  seemed  to 
soothe  her,  and  so  she  died.  Let  us  hope  that 
she  and  other  dear  friends  who  have  gone  be- 
fore us  to  the  eternal  world  belonged  to  the 
soul  of  the  Church.  Eternal  rest  give  unto  all 
our  friends,  0  Lord,  and  let  perpetual  light 
shine  upon  them.  May  they  rest  in  peace, 
Amen!" 

But  this  is  an  anticipation.  On  his  return 
from  the  South,  his  health  being  still  in  a  very 
precarious  condition,  Mr.  Richards  engaged  in 
commercial  occupations  which  would  keep  him 
traveling  and  much  in  the  open  air,  while  enab- 
ling him  to  earn  a  modest  subsistence  for  him- 
self and  his  little  family.  He  collected  for  a 
large  manufacturing  firm,  then  canvassed  for 
an  insurance  company,  and  for  a  few  months 
even  solicited  subscriptions  for  books.  He  had 
no  intention  of  preaching  or  officiating  further 
in  the  Episcopal  Church.  But  his  old  congre- 
gation were  not  satisfied  to  let  him  go  so  easily. 
They  had  vigorously  opposed  his  resignation 
before  his  southern  journey,  and  their  experi- 
ence with  his  successors  had  not  been  satisfac- 
tory. One  of  these  became  involved  in  a 
scandal  in  which  a  young  widow  figured,  and 
finally  had  a  trial  and  was  dismissed.  Another 
of  the  reverend  gentlemen  had  a  wife  who 
seems   to  have  made   matters   extremely   dis- 


CONVERSION  225 

agreeable  not  only  for  her  husband  but  for  the 
congregation,  and  apparently  under  pressure 
from  her,  he  resigned.  The  petitions  of  the 
congregation  to  Mr.  Richards  were  so  frequent 
and  urgent  that  while  continuing  his  secular 
employments  on  week  days,  he  officiated  from 
time  to  time  on  Sundays,  and  frequently  at 
weddings  and  funerals,  in  which  he  had  always 
been  a  great  favorite  on  account  of  his  digni- 
fied and  devotional  rendering  of  the  beautiful 
Episcopalian  office  and  his  graceful  and  happy 
addresses.  At  last,  while  the  arrangement  was 
understood  to  be  only  temporary,  he  came  to 
officiate  and  to  be  looked  upon  again  as  vir- 
tually the  Rector  of  the  Parish. 

"I  tremble,"  he  writes,  "when  I  think  of  it! 
The  delusions  of  Satan  are  as  fearful  as  the 
mercy  of  God  is  infinite!  How  little  do  the 
great  mass  of  mankind  realize  the  danger  of 
trifling  with  the  grace  of  God!  When  your 
mind  is  made  up,  act!  Don't  dally  with  con- 
science! Act  promptly,  decidedly, — if  neces- 
sary, heroically!  Delay  is  dangerous.  Oh, 
how  many  souls  are  ruined  by  failing  to  take 
the  first  step  at  the  right  time ! ' ' 

It  should  be  noted  that  Mr.  Richards'  self- 
condemnation  is  based  throughout  on  the  sup- 
position that  he  was  at  this  time  fully  and 
firmly  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  claims  of 
the    Catholic    Church.     Fault    is    often   found 


226  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

with  converted  ministers  for  having  continued 
to  officiate  for  some  time  after  they  have  be- 
gun to  entertain  doubts  and  in  fact  up  to  the 
time,  or  within  a  short  j^eriod,  of  their  public 
recantation.  But  sucli  blame  is  not  entirely 
just.  Were  they  to  cease  preaching  as  soon  as 
they  begin  to  be  troul)led  with  doubts,  they 
would  attract  pu])lic  attention  and  create  ex- 
citement to  a  degree  most  unpropitious  to  a 
calm  and  candid  investigation.  In  case  the 
man  assailed  by  intellectual  difficulties  should 
succeed  in  solving  them  satisfactorily  and 
should  decide  to  remain  in  his  old  faith,  his 
prospects  would  be  ruined  to  no  purpose. 
Moreover,  would  it  not  be  seriously  wrong  to 
reduce  one's  family  to  distress  before  being 
quite  sure  of  the  obligation  of  taking  the  step 
which  would  entail  such  a  result?  Have  not 
even  those  friends  and  followers  whose  belief 
depends  to  some  extent  upon  that  of  their  pas- 
tor a  right  to  be  considered,  at  least  to  the 
extent  that  he  should  do  nothing  rash  and  in- 
considerate that  would  disturb  and  endanger 
their  faith  needlessly?  The  line  between  mere 
difficulties  and  serious  and  settled  doubts  is,  in 
many  cases,  obscure  and  uncertain.  It  is  no 
doubt  true  that  when  once  positive  and  settled 
doubts  concerning  the  truth  of  his  religion, 
have  taken  possession  of  a  minister's  mind  and 
on  serious  investigation  retain  their  force,  he 


CONVERSION  227 

is  no  longer  free  to  give  public  approval  to  such 
doctrines  by  continuing  to  officiate.  But,  if 
every  man  must  pause  in  the  work  of  life  until 
all  difficulties  and  objections  that  may  arise  in 
his  mind  are  clearly  solved,  everything,  it 
would  seem,  would  come  to  a  standstill  and 
nothing  would  be  accomplished.  It  was  by 
such  a  course  of  reasoning  as  this  that  Mr. 
Eichards,  during  this  painful  period  of  waiting, 
justified  himself  to  his  own  conscience  in  con- 
tinuing to  preach  though  a  Catholic  at  heart. 
Of  course  he  was  careful  to  say  nothing  against 
his  conscience  or  in  conflict  with  true  Catholic 
doctrine.  What  formed  the  subject  of  his 
deep  contrition,  and  self-condemnation  in  after 
years  was,  as  we  have  said,  the  supposed  fact 
that  he  was  really  convinced  all  this  time ;  that 
he  had  seen  the  light  and  had  not  followed. 
He  notes  too  as  one  of  the  worst  dangers  of 
such  a  condition  that  even  while  the  mind  is 
becoming  more  and  more  strengthened  in  its 
intellectual  convictions,  the  moral  nature  may 
be  deteriorating  and  becoming  weaker  by  fail- 
ing to  correspond  with  those  convictions. 
Such  he  humbly  declares  to  have  been  his  case 
during  the  period  from  his  return  from  the 
South  in  the  spring  of  1849  to  November,  1851. 
"During  that  time,  I  took  the  New  York  Free- 
man's Journal  and  read  with  the  greatest  in- 
terest and  delight  the  republication  of  one  of 


228  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Dr.  Newman's  best  works,  Anglican  Difficulties. 
.  .  .  How  beautiful !  liow  eloquent !  how  power- 
ful !  how  perfectly  exhaustive  the  discussion  of 
every  subject  he  undertook!  Who  could  read 
that  work  and  vet  remain  unconvinced !  I  cer- 
tainly  was  most  thoroughly  convinced,  and  I 
sometimes  used  to  astonish  my  friends  by  the 
most  outspoken  and  startling  expressions  of 
opinion.  And  yet  I  fear  that  all  that  time  I 
was  undergoing  a  process  of  moral  deteriora- 
tion which  rendered  it  less  and  less  probable 
that  I  should  ever  follow  out  my  convictions 
and  openly  declare  myself  a  Catholic." 

At  the  opening  of  term  in  September,  1849, 
Mr.  Richards  was  invited  to  j^reach  at  Kenyon 
before  the  professors,  theological  students  and 
literati  of  the  College  and  Bexley  Hall.  He 
chose  as  his  subject  the  Organic  Nature  of 
Cliristianity.  His  chief  thesis  was  that  the 
Christian  Church  is  the  mvstical  body  of  Christ 
and  that  justification  and  sanctification  come 
to  the  individual  members  through  union  in 
her  with  Christ  the  Head.  This  union  is 
effected  primarily  by  spiritual  regeneration  in 
Baptism.  The  sermon,  which  still  exists,  was 
a  remarkable  production,  profound  and  logical 
in  thought,  clear,  terse  and  vigorous  in  ex- 
pression, and  illustrated  by  many  striking  pas- 
sages from  the  New  Testament.  It  was  de- 
livered  with   impassioned    eloquence,    for    the 


CONVERSION  229 

speaker's  whole  heart  and  soul,  and  the  results 
of  his  thoughts  and  mental  conflicts  for  years, 
were  in  his  words.  In  his  mind,  during  the 
composition  of  this  sermon,  was  the  argument; 
*' Every  visible  organic  body  has  a  visible 
head ;  therefore  the  Church  must  also  have  her 
visible  head  on  earth."  But  of  this  he  gave 
no  hint  in  the  address  itself;  neither  did  he 
go  on  to  show  with  Brownson  that  the  An- 
glican Church,  having  broken  the  unity  of  the 
visible  organic  body,  was  in  deadly  schism. 
His  contention  therefore  was  only  what  at  the 
present  day  would  be  considered  ordinary 
High  Church  doctrine  and  which  would  excite 
no  particular  remark.  But  at  that  time,  his 
bold  words  were  heard  in  the  Low  Church 
camp  as  nothing  short  of  a  declaration  of 
war.  They  stirred  up  his  dignified  hearers  to 
unwonted  excitement,  and  his  opponents  con- 
tinued for  some  time  afterward  to  attack  his 
*' heretical  position"  in  their  sermons.  This 
was  true  especially  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dobb,  who 
had  been  the  Low  Church  contemporary  of  Mr. 
Richards  in  Columbus. 

He  writes  to  his  brother  William,  under  date 
of  September  9,  1849 : 

''The  sermon,  I  am  confident,  is  nothing  but 
what  every  good  churchman  would  subscribe 
to,  and  yet  I  don't  know  after  all  but  our  left- 


230  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

handed  brethren  are  more  penetrating  than 
we  in  tracing  its  legitimate  consequences.  At 
any  rate,  it  requires  some  labor  and  argu- 
mentation to  reconcile  such  principles  with  our 
position.  I  do  not  say  we  are  wrong  ab- 
solutely. If  we  are  right  in  our  position,  we 
have  a  herculean  task  to  perform  in  making  our 
'Anglo-American'  branch  of  the  Holy  Catho- 
lic Church  truly  Catholic.  Perhaps,  however, 
this  is  our  mission.  If  so,  God  give  us  patience 
to  labor  in  its  accomplishment!  We  proph- 
esy in  the  midst  of  a  disobedient  and  gain- 
saying people.  I  confess  I  have  been  made  to 
waver.  But  I  have  not  decided  to  give  up  the 
ship. 

"Of  this  much,  however,  I  am  sure — that  I 
would  much  ratlier  l)e  a  Romanist  than  an  in- 
fidel. I  never  could  be  an  infidel.  The  days  of 
my  temptation  on  that  score  are  over.  Chris- 
tianity is  true,  or  the  past  is  a  lie  and  the  voice 
of  humanity  a  false  witness.  So,  too,  Catholi- 
cism is  the  true  exponent  of  Christianity.  If 
the  Catholic  System  is  not  true,  Christianity  is 
not  true.  They  rise  or  fall  together.  Hence 
I  never  can  be  anything  but  a  Catholic.  If  I 
can  be  a  true  Catholic  by  remaining  where  I 
am,  I  stay.  If  not,  I  go  towards  Rome.  There 
are  some  important  historical  questions  which 
I  have  not  the  means  nor  the  leisure  now  of 


CONVERSION  231 

deciding.  But  in  any  case  our  great  work  is  a 
work  of  restoration,  restoration  of  Catholic 
truth  and  practice  in  order  to  the  restoration 
of  Catholic  Unity.  Oh,  for  the  restoration  of 
Unity!  Oh,  that  we  might  all  be  one, — that 
the  Savior's  prayer  might  be  answered, — 
'that  they  all  might  be  one,  as  Thou,  Father, 
art  in  Me  and  I  in  Thee — that  they  also  might 
be  one  in  Us — that  the  world  may  know  that 
Thou  has  sent  Me!'  For  this  let  us  ever  la- 
bor and  pray  and  God  will  guide  us  into  all 
truth!" 

The  time  had  now  come  for  the  grace  of 
God  to  give  the  final  stroke  to  the  work  of  con- 
version that  had  been  so  long  preparing.  It 
was  to  come  through  suffering  and  danger  and 
almost  as  suddenly  as  the  supernatural  light 
from  heaven  that  struck  down  St.  Paul  on  the 
way  to  Damascus.  In  November,  1851,  he  was 
taken  with  a  severe  illness  and  for  some  weeks 
was  in  danger  of  death.  After  the  crisis  had 
passed,  convalescence  was  slow,  and  he  had 
time  to  think  seriously  of  his  state.  In  the 
light  of  eternity,  he  saw  clearly  that  the  knowl- 
edge which  he  had  obtained  of  the  Catholic 
Church  and  of  the  proofs  of  her  divine  origin 
and  authority  were  abundantly  sufficient  to 
produce  certainty  and  to  demand  from  him  as- 


232  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

sent  and  submission.  lie  was  appalled  at  the 
thought  of  the  unreasonable  delay  of  which  he 
now  judged  himself  guilty  and  of  the  account 
that  he  would  have  to  render  to  God  of  His 
illuminations  and  graces.  All  his  life  was 
spread  out  before  his  internal  vision  like  a 
map.  He  saw  clearly  the  steps  by  which  God's 
loving  Providence  had  led  him  on,  giving  him 
an  ever  increasing  light  of  Truth,  and  urging 
him,  with  fatherly  and  persistent  love,  to  seek 
Him  in  His  Holy  Church.  Earnestly  did  he 
beg  of  his  attendants  that  a  priest  might  be 
sent  for;  but  he  was  put  off  with  various  ex- 
cuses. Calling  to  his  bedside  a  cousin  and  old 
college  mate,  he  appealed  to  him  in  the  most 
pathetic  manner  to  bring  Father  Borgess.  His 
friend  promised  blandh",  but  only  to  deceive 
him.  Afterward  he  learned  that  his  devoted 
wife  had  resolved  that  if  death  were  to  become 
really  imminent,  his  desire  should  be  gratified. 
But  as  he  had  yielded  once,  after  what  ap- 
peared to  her  a  period  of  excitement,  she  con- 
soled herself  with  the  hope  that  if  the  decisive 
step  could  only  be  postponed  until  health  and 
strength  returned,  he  might  still  be  induced  to 
lay  aside  his  scruples  and  again  to  become  con- 
tent to  remain  an  Episcopalian.  Little  did  she 
realize  what  was  passing  in  her  husband's  soul, 
as  he  lay,  white  and  still,  on  the  bed  before  her. 
He  writes: 


CONVERSION  233 


HI 


The  quickening  of  perception  and  elevation 
of  mind  I  have  spoken  of  during  my  illness  was 
manifested  in  an  extraordinary  intuitive  per- 
ception of  the  wonderful  beauty,  propriety  and 
reasonableness  of  the  teaching  and  practice  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  It  seemed  almost  like  a 
revelation  to  me.  It  was  deeply  impressed  on 
my  mind  that  that  wonderful  system  was  not 
a  cold,  dry,  incoherent  and  confused  mass  of 
uninteresting  speculations  and  antiquated 
superstitious  practices,  but  a  beautiful,  unique, 
harmonious  system,  instinct  with  life  and  love, 
and  glowing  Avith  the  divine  forms  of  beauty 
and  loveliness.  In  the  language  of  the  Psalm- 
ist: 'The  King's  Daughter'  was  indeed  'all  glo- 
rious within;  her  clothing  is  of  wrought  gold 
Avith  beautiful  embroidery.'  'Thou  art  beauti- 
ful above  the  sons  of  men;  grace  is  poured 
forth  on  thy  lips;  therefore  hath  God  blessed 
thee  forever. '  Even  the  most  insignificant  part 
of  her  ceremonial  seemed  to  be  not  only  im- 
pressively significant  but  also  instinct  with  the 
Adtality  of  the  truths  represented.  I  saw  and 
was  deeply  impressed  Avith  the  beauty  and 
significance  of  the  use  of  holy  water,  the  sign 
of  the  Cross,  and  all  the  varied  ceremonial 
which  to  an  unaccustomed  eye  is  apt  to  appear 
puerile  and  superstitious.  If  I  had  ever  had 
any  doubt,  I  then  had  not  the  slightest  mis- 
giving in  regard  to  the  divinity  of  the  Catholic 


234  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Churcli.  I  was  only  too  impatient,  if  possible, 
to  throw  myself  into  her  compassionate  arms, 
to  be  embraced  by  her  and  nursed  upon  her 
divine  bosom.  I  longed  to  return  as  a  poor 
prodigal  to  my  Father's  house  after  years  of 
wandering  and  vain  pursuit  of  the  worthless 
and  unsatisfying  husks  of  Time." 

In  fact,  the  invalid  went  in  search  of  a  priest 
while  lie  was  still  so  weak  that  he  was  obliged 
to  sit  down  and  rest  on  the  way.  When  he  ap- 
peared, pale  and  emaciated,  before  Father 
Borgess,  begging  to  be  received  at  once  into 
the  Church,  tliat  wise  ecclesiastic  counseled 
a  little  further  delay.  No  doubt  he  wished  the 
important  step  to  be  taken  by  the  neophyte 
with  all  deli])eration  and  tranquillity.  Mean- 
time, the  news  of  his  approaching  submission 
to  Eome  was  widely  circulated.  A  violent 
commotion  ensued  and  the  storm  of  reproba- 
tion broke  out  again.  Articles  appeared  in  the 
newspapers  declaring  the  conversion  to  be  the 
result  of  mental  derangement,  asserting  that 
the  former  minister  had  separated,  or  was 
about  to  separate,  from  his  wife  and  children 
in  order  to  become  a  Romish  priest  and  in- 
timating that  he  was  attempting  to  inveigle  his 
wife  to  the  East  in  order  to  place  her  in  a  con- 
vent. Similar  charges  were  made  in  public  by 
a  fellow  minister,  and  letters  were   received 


CONVERSION  235 

from  old  friends,  full  of  impassioned  remon- 
strances and  abuse  of  the  Church.  An  answer 
to  the  most  odious  of  the  newspaper  attacks 
was  made  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Randall,  a  Baptist 
minister,  who  protested  in  vigorous  and  manly 
fashion  against  such  violations  of  Christian 
charity. 

But  this  time  the  storm  was  met  by  the  new 
convert  with  a  serene  courage  that  knew  no 
wavering. 

During  the  month  of  January,  1852,  Mr. 
Richards  wrote  on  the  same  day  to  his  father 
and  to  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  notifying  them  of 
his  approaching  reception  and  tendering  to  the 
Bishop  his  resignation  as  a  Minister  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  In  his  answer, 
Bishop  Mcllvaine  expresses  his  deep  pain  and 
regret,  and  indulges  in  a  sharp  attack  on  the 
Catholic  Church  as  "the  very  Mother  of 
Abominations.  .  .  .  Never  did  the  Church  of 
Rome  more  openly  avow  her  spiritual  adultery 
in  the  bold  declaration  of  her  idolatrous  wor- 
ship of  the  creature,  especially  Mary.  Never 
more  than  at  present  did  she  exhibit  the  fea- 
tures of  Antichrist."  However,  he  commends 
Mr.  Richards  for  not  remaining  in  the  Episco- 
pal Church  with  such  views  as  he  now  holds. 

In  the  midst  of  the  excitement,  Henry's 
brother  William,  then  a  lawyer  and  editor  at 
Newark,  Ohio,  came  to  visit  him.    Acting  as  a 


236  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

peacemaker,  lie  endeavored  to  allay  the  angry 
prejudice  aroused.  He  proposed  that  the  con- 
valescent should  visit  him  at  his  quiet  home  in 
Newark  as  soon  as  he  should  be  able  to  travel 
with  safety.  His  expectation  was  that  in  the 
peace  and  quietness  of  his  brother's  house, 
Henry's  excitement  would  pass  away  and  that 
by  calmly  reasoning  together  they  would  end 
by  harmonizing,  as  they  had  always  done  in 
the  past,  and  would  meet  again  on  the  good  old 
via  media.  To  the  family  and  connections  he 
said:  ** Henry  is  evidently  a  little  disturbed 
in  mind  by  his  recent  illness.  I  will  take  him 
to  my  house  in  Newark,  where  he  can  rest  and 
we  can  talk  quietly,  and  I  am  confident  that  in 
a  couple  of  weeks  he  will  be  as  good  a  Protes- 
tant as  ever."  The  programme  was  carried 
out,  but  with  precisely  a  contrary  result  to  that 
predicted.  At  the  end  of  the  specified  time, 
William  was  virtually  a  Catholic,  though  he 
did  not  make  his  formal  submission  for  more 
than  a  year  later,  that  event  occurring  in  the 
summer  of  1853.  "Little  did  I  anticipate," 
says  William  Richards  in  his  little  book,  On 
the  Road  to  Rome  and  How  Tivo  Brothers  Got 
There,  "the  unanswerable  arguments  for  the 
Catholic  Church  which  he  had  already  mas- 
tered and  with  which  he  unexpectedly  but 
effectually  posed  me." 

The  visit  was  brought  to   an    abrupt   con- 


A.W Elso-n  &,Cd.,JBosvcn 


/^i^-yic^  ^ 


CONVERSION  237 

elusion  by  somewhat  startling  news  from  Co- 
lumbus. Some  of  the  zealous  Protestant  rela- 
tives or  friends  had  taken  advantage  of  Mr. 
Richards'  absence  to  attempt  to  effect  a  sep- 
aration between  his  wife  and  himself.  A  min- 
ister of  Cleveland,  a  man  of  some  learning  and 
still  greater  assurance,  proved  to  his  own  sat- 
isfaction, quoting  the  decrees  of  Trent,  that  the 
Catholic  Church  could  never  recognize  the 
validity  of  their  marriage.  Matters  had  gone 
so  far  that  a  written  declaration  had  been  ob- 
tained by  these  officious  friends  from  Cynthia, 
to  the  effect  that  if  it  were  true,  as  had  been 
represented  to  her,  that  the  Catholic  Church 
would  not  recognize  their  marriage,  she  would 
not  continue  to  live  with  her  husband.  Henry 
saw  at  once  the  scheme  that  was  on  foot.  He 
hurried  home  and  needed  only  a  few  moments 
to  convince  his  wife  that  she  had  been  deceived 
and  to  restore  all  her  confidence. 

All  the  necessary  and  becoming  prelimina- 
ries having  been  duly  and  tranquilly  settled, 
Henry  Livingston  Richards  made  his  publio 
submission  and  was  received  into  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  Columbus,  by  the  Rev.  Caspar  Borgess, 
Pastor,  on  Sunday,*  January  25,  1852.  There 
was  no  baptism,  even  conditional,  as  Mr.  Rich- 
ards' second  baptism,  conferred  by  Bishop 
Whittingham  in  1844,  was  judged  by  Father 


238  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Borgess  certainly  valid.  The  Profession  of 
Faith  was  made,  the  absolution  from  heresy 
received,  and  the  ceremonies  alone  of  the  bap- 
tism were  supplied. 

'*A  somewhat  curious  and  interesting  coin- 
cidence," writes  Mr.  Richards,  ''occurred  at 
the  time.  St.  Paul  had  always  been  a  favorite 
saint  with  mo.  If  I  had  been  a  Catholic,  I 
should  have  said  I  had  a  special  devotion  to 
him.  I  admired  his  character,  our  new  church 
was  named  for  him,  and  one  of  my  favorite 
sermons  was  on  the  character  of  St.  Paul. 
"When  I  came  to  be  received.  Father  Borgess 
asked  what  patron  Saint  I  would  take.  I 
told  him  I  had  not  thought  of  that.  I  did  not 
know  much  about  the  Catholic  practice  of  tak- 
ing patron  Saints,  but  I  would  leave  it  en- 
tirely to  him.  'Well,'  said  he,  'as  this  is  the 
festival  of  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  I  will 
give  you  the  name  of  Paul!'  Another  coin- 
cidence pleased  me  very  much.  If  there  is  a 
character  in  Holy  Scripture  that  I  have  a 
special  admiration  for,  it  is  that  of  Blessed 
Mary  Magdalene.  When  I  ascertained  that 
Catholics  made  account  of  the  Saint  whose 
commemoration  occurred  on  their  birthday,  I 
was  surprised  and  delighted  on  consulting  the 
calendar  to  find  that  my  birthday  was  the 
festival  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene." 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Eichards'  reception,  his 


CONVERSION  239 

cliilclren  were  four  in  number,  Laura  Isabelle, 
Plenry  Livingston,  Jr.,  William  Douglas,  and 
Havens  Cowles,  who  had  seen  the  light  scarcely 
more  than  two  months  before.  The  last  named 
had  not  yet  been  baptized.  With  all  Mr.  Rich- 
ards '  tender  love  for  his  wife  and  his  sympathy 
for  her  suffering  and  anxiety  at  this  time,  he  did 
not  propose  to  let  any  question  arise  as  to  the 
child's  Catholic  baptism.  He  therefore  one 
day  took  the  baby  quietly  in  his  arms  and 
slipping  unobserved  out  of  the  back  door, 
carried  it  to  Father  Borgess  at  the  church  of 
the  Holy  Cross  and  had  it  baptized.  On  the 
way,  bethinking  himself  of  the  necessity  of 
godparents,  he  called  upon  Mrs.  Mary  Going,  a 
relative  by  marriage  and  at  that  time  his  only 
Catholic  acquaintance  in  Columbus.  Mr.  Rich- 
ards, in  his  notes,  pleases  himself  with  the  con- 
jecture that  this  resolute  act  of  faith  on  his 
own  part  may  have  had  some  connection,  by 
God's  grace,  with  his  son's  vocation  in  after 
life  to  the  priesthood  and  the  religious  state. 
Shortly  after  his  reception  into  the  Church, 
Mr.  Richards  put  into  execution  his  plan  of  re- 
moving to  New  York.  In  Columbus,  his  situa- 
tion had  become  anything  but  pleasant.  Some 
of  his  warmest  friends  renounced  his  acquaint- 
ance entirely.  His  mother-in-law  said  solemnly 
to  her  daughter:  "You  know,  Cynthia,  I  can 
never  visit  you  again!"    In  time  this   spirit 


240  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

died  away;  and  in  after  years  there  was  no 
place  where  the  aged  Mrs.  Cowles  delighted 
more  to  visit  and  to  spend  the  winters  happily 
than  in  the  pleasant  home  in  Jersey  City.  But 
in  the  beginning,  the  feeling  was  very  bitter. 
The  position  offered  the  former  clergyman  by 
his  old  Ohio  friends  and  relatives  by  marriage, 
the  Averys,  in  the  drygoods  house  of  Avery, 
Hilliard  &  Co.  on  Broadway,  held  out  only  very 
modest  inducements  at  the  start;  but  it  gave 
hope  of  advancement. 

His  wife  and  children  were  therefore 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  his  father  in  the  old 
home  at  Granville.  The  opening  of  spring 
found  the  new  convert  in  a  cheerless  upper  room 
(sky-parlor,  he  calls  it)  of  a  boarding  house 
in  Liberty  St.,  New  York,  ready  to  begin  life 
anew  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight,  amid  strange 
surroundings,  separated  from  his  family,  cast 
off  by  friends  and  with  only  his  cheerful  con- 
fidence and  trust  in  God's  providence  and  his 
ardent  devotion  to  his  new  faith  to  sustain  and 
comfort  him. 


CHAPTEE  IX 

EAKLY   CATHOLIC    LIFE 

Many  anxieties  and  trials  were  to  be  en- 
dured by  the  new  convert  during  the  first  three 
years  of  his  Catholic  life.  Not  the  least  of 
these  was  the  comparative  isolation  to  which 
every  convert  is  more  or  less  condemned.  It 
must  be  confessed  that  Catholic  lay  people,  at 
least  in  our  country,  are  not  in  general  suffi- 
ciently ready  to  make  advances  and  to  mani- 
fest kindness  to  those  who  enter  the  fold.  In 
this  particular  they  contrast  perhaps  rather 
unfavorably  with  the  adherents  of  heresy.  No 
doubt  it  is  often  through  a  certain  timidity 
that  those  who  have  always  been  Catholics  hold 
back  from  obtruding  their  acquaintance  upon 
the  newcomers;  but  the  effect  is  as  injurious 
as  though  it  were  due  to  indifference.  The  new 
convert  must  first  fight,  as  it  were,  to  get  in; 
he  must  make,  in  many  cases,  heroic  sacrifices ; 
he  incurs  the  displeasure  of  relatives,  is  cut  off 
from  old  friends,  and  is  apt  to  find  himself  for 
a  long  time  without  new  ones,  at  least  outside 
the  ranks  of  the  clergy.  He  sees  around  him 
multitudes  of  Catholics  intent  upon  their  own 

241 


242  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

duties  and  devotions,  but  apparently  with  little 
thouglit  or  sjTapatby  for  him. 

In  Mr.  Eichards'  case,  this  isolation  was  in- 
creased and  aggravated  tenfold  by  the  separa- 
tion from  his  family.  He  was  a  devoted  hus- 
band and  loving  father;  and  to  be  compelled 
to  live  away  from  wife  and  children  for  an 
indefinite  period,  inflicted  upon  him  a  suffering 
like  death.  Intensely  desirous  of  the  conver- 
sion of  his  familv  to  the  faith  which  he  had  em- 
braced  and  which  he  loved  more  ardently  every 
dav  as  its  beauties  were  revealed  to  him,  he 
was  in  a  position  to  do  scarcely  anything  to 
hasten  that  conversion.  The  stings  of  poverty 
and  anxieties  as  to  success  in  business  were 
aggravated  by  ill  health,  which  soon  began  to 
assume  at  times  an  alarming  aspect.  But  all 
such  difficulties  and  sufferings  were  lightened 
by  the  tender  devotion  and  intense  happiness 
which  he  experienced  in  the  practice  of  re- 
ligion. His  letters  at  this  time  give  a  vivid  idea 
of  the  enthusiasm  with  which  their  writer,  with 
intellect  and  heart  now  at  rest  in  the  Truth, 
entered  upon  the  fields  of  Catholic  devo- 
tion. 

Scarcely  had  Mr.  Richards  become  settled  in 
his  new  surroundings,  when  he  was  summoned 
to  Granville  to  the  deathbed  of  his  father.  The 
old  Doctor  had  fallen  from  the  loft  of  the  stable 
on  a  heap  of  stones  below  and  suffered  a  con- 


EARLY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  243 

cussion  of  the  brain  that  led  to  his  death  after 
a  few  days.  In  the  interval,  he  was  in  constant 
delirium,  but  as  the  end  approached,  full  con- 
sciousness returned.  Calling  to  his  bedside 
those  of  his  children  and  grandchildren  who 
were  present,  he  said:  ''My  children,  I  die  in 
the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  so 
sank  into  unconsciousness  and  death.  He  had 
always  been  a  very  religious  and  most  conscien- 
tious man.  It  was  his  custom  to  take  his  Bible 
every  day  and  retire  to  his  inner  study,  where 
no  one  was  allowed  to  disturb  him  for  half  an 
hour  or  more.  His  son  looked  upon  his  dying 
declaration  of  faith  as  an  indication  that  doubts 
as  to  his  position  had  perhaps  arisen  in  his 
mind,  and  that  he  desired  to  express  an  implicit 
belief  of  all  that  Christ  taught,  whatever  that 
might  be  in  detail.  In  spite  of  the  ever  in- 
creasing divergence  in  their  religious  convic- 
tions, Henry  had  always  remained  devotedly  at- 
tached to  his  father,  and  the  death  of  the  latter 
at  this  time  was  an  added  weight  in  the  burden 
of  sorrow  and  trial  that  he  was  called  upon  in 
God's  providence  to  bear. 

As  a  business  man,  Mr.  Richards  proved  to 
be  successful,  his  early  experiences  in  that  field 
no  doubt  having  afforded  him  a  better  prepara- 
tion than  falls  to  the  lot  of  most  clergymen. 
The  cheery,  sincere  and  hearty  manner  which 
was  natural  to  him  and  was  an  index  of  his 


244  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

character,  and  which,  moreover,  was  strength- 
ened daily  by  the  religious  influences  to  which 
he  opened  his  whole  soul,  ensured  him  a  favor- 
able reception  from  all  classes.    His  principals 
increased  his  salary  and  desired  him  to  make 
a  prolonged  journey  in  the  "West  during  the 
autumn  of  1852.     Then  occurred  the  first  of  a 
series  of  attacks  of  illness,  of  a  painful  and 
peculiar  nature,  which  formed  one  of  the  most 
distressing  trials  of  his  life.     Four  times,  at 
intervals  of  some  ten  years,  did  these  attacks 
disable  him  for  periods  of  some  months  from 
the  ordinary  duties  of  life  and  even  of  religion, 
wrapping  his  soul  in  the  deepest  gloom.     Pain- 
ful and  terrible  as  the  trial  was,  he  himself 
recognized  it  as  a  powerful  instrument  in  the 
hand  of  God  to  tear  away  his  heart  from  all 
attachment  to  created  and  transient  goods  and 
to  fix  it  upon  God  alone.     Describing  this  at- 
tack, he  says:     *'I  remember  very  distinctly 
praying  in  heart  with  intense  earnestness  to  St. 
Peter  that  my  faith  might  never  fail.    I  have 
sometimes  thought  that  it  may  have  been  in 
answer  to  that  petition  of  intense  desire  and 
impassioned   earnestness   that   I   am  indebted 
for  the  happy  exemption  from  doubt  in  regard 
to  the  truth  of  the  Catholic  religion  with  which 
I  have  been  blessed.    I  have  never,  thank  God, 
had  any  serious  doubt  in  regard  to  any  doctrine 


EAELY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  245 

of  the  Church.  ...  I  said  my  prayers  regularly 
rather  froui  a  sense  of  duty  than  from  inclina- 
tion, crying  for  mercy  and  deprecating  the 
judgments  of  God,  but  without  hope  or  con- 
solation. There  was  one  exception  to  this. 
One  day  I  experienced  some  relief,  a  momentary 
unction  and  freedom  and  pleasure  in  prayer. 
I  afterwards  found  it  was  the  anniversary  of 
my  reception  into  the  Church,  the  festival  of 
the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  whom  I  had  chosen, 
or  rather  who  had  been  given  to  me,  as  my 
patron  saint!" 

It  was  Mr.  Richards'  conviction  that  God  in- 
tended him  to  remain  poor.  He  had  absolutely 
no  desire  for  riches.  He  worked  only  for  a  sub- 
sistence for  himself  and  his  family  and  aimed 
at  nothing  beyond,  unless  the  power  of  doing 
good  and  giving  to  others.  It  is  a  fact  worthy 
of  notice  that  whenever  by  his  ability  and  in- 
dustry he  began  to  get  ahead  and  to  be  in  a 
position  to  lay  up  resources  for  the  future,  one 
of  these  attacks  of  illness,  or  some  other  unex- 
pected and  unavoidable  circumstance,  came  to 
throw  him  back  into  his  favorite  condition  of 
absolute  trust  in  God's  providence.  When,  on 
the  other  hand,  his  resources  were  exhausted 
and  poverty  stared  him  in  the  face,  some  new 
opening  of  even  more  favorable  character  than 
before  came  to  justify  his  confidence. 


246  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Upon  his  recovery,  returning  from  the  old 
home  at  Granville  to  New  York,  the  convert 
found  his  business  position,  which  he  had  un- 
ceremoniously  abandoned   under   pressure    of 
his  illness,  already  filled  by  another.     His  em- 
ployers recommended  him  to  a  -wholesale  gro- 
cery house  of  standing,  where,  however,  the 
religious  minded  convert  found  his  principles 
of  integrity  and  fair  dealing  regarded  as  some- 
what out  of  place.     The  end  of  the  season  found 
him   again   witliout   employment   or   resource. 
** Again,"    he    writes,    ''was    my    frail    bark 
launched  on  the  wild  open  sea  without  chart  or 
compass,  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds  and  waves. 
These  changes  were  of  course  a  great  trial  to 
me,  but  I  tried  to  profit  by  them.    I  looked  upon 
them  as  sent  by  Providence  for  the  trial  of  my 
faith  and  patience,  and  tried  to  practice  abso- 
lute submission  to  the  Holy  Will  of  God."    Re- 
turning to  Ohio  with  a  commission  from  his 
brother-in-law,   Virgil    Hillyer,   Mr.    Richards 
visited  Cincinnati,  and  there  was  the  guest  of 
the  venerable  Bishop  Purcell.    In  the  Bishop's 
house,  he  had  the  gratification  of  meeting  the 
Papal  Ablegate,  Archbishop  Bedini.     The  letter 
to  his   wife  in   which  he   describes   this  visit 
carries  us  back  with  the  utmost  vividness  to  the 
time,  and  his  impressions  of  the  churchmen  are 
full  of  interest. 


EARLY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  247 

'^Cincinnati,  Dec.  24tli,  1853. 

' '  Saturday. 

''Mif  dear  Wife: 

"I  cannot  find  words  to  express  the  extreme 
pleasure  I  have  experienced  in  my  reception 
by  our  good  Archbishop.  With  my  usual  timid- 
ity, by  the  time  I  arrived  here  I  had  pretty  well 
convinced  myself  that  I  was  on  a  wild  goose 
chase.  The  Archbishop  would  have  his  hands 
full  of  other  business  and  an  obscure  individual 
like  myself  after  all  was  not  very  likely  to  ex- 
cite much  interest  in  the  heart  of  a  high  digni- 
tary of  the  church. 

''However,  I  mustered  courage  and  called  at 
the  Episcopal  residence  and  was  shown  to  Dr. 
Eosecrans'  room,  who  received  me  like  an  old 
friend,  and  as  he  was  about  to  go  up  to  the 
seminary  (a  splendid  building  on  one  of  the 
high  hills,  overlooking  the  city)  to  hear  his 
class,  he  invited  me  to  go  along.  So  I  got  into 
the  buggy  and  we  had  a  pleasant  ride,  chatting 
about  old  times,  &c.  On  our  return,  the  Arch- 
bishop (who  had  been  out)  had  returned  and  I 
was  ushered  into  his  august  presence.  Never 
was  I  taken  by  a  more  agreeable  surprise. 
Such  cordiality— such  familiar,  friendly  inter- 
est—such paternal  sympathy— such  sprightli- 
ness  and  vivacity  in  conversation,  and  mthal 
such  perfect  refinement  of  manner,  I  think  I 


248  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

never  before  witnessed  in  any  man.  He  entered 
at  once  into  my  feelings  and  interests,  inquired 
about  my  family,  my  brother,  &c.,  and  insisted 
that  I  should  stay  with  him.  .  .  .  The  character 
of  his  conduct  is  very  childlike.  He  is  animated 
and  quick-motioned  as  a  Frenchman  and  he 
waits  upon  you,  placing  the  chair,  pouring  out 
your  tea,  as  at  breakfast  this  morning,  and 
showing  an  hundred  little  attentions  as  agree- 
able as  they  are  unexpected.  But  this  is  only 
half  my  pleasure.  Think  of  it !  His  Eminence 
Archbishop  Bedini,  the  Nuncio  of  His  Holiness, 
is  here  with  his  suite,  and  last  evening  I  had  the 
very  great  privilege  and  gratification  of  kneel- 
ing for  the  Apostolic  benediction,  kissing  the 
Episcopal  ring,  and  having  his  hands  laid  upon 
my  head.  More  than  this — the  Archbishop 
very  kindly  informed  me  that  they  were  to  take 
tea  at  Mr.  Springer's,  a  prominent  Catholic 
family,  and  invited  me  to  go  with  them,  which 
I  did,  and  then  to  add  another  link  to  the  chain 
of  sweetness  long  drawn  out,  I  met  Mr.  Ander- 
son and  his  lady  from  Chillicothe. 

"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Springer  are  both  very  excel- 
lent— indeed  quite  delightful  people — and  their 
large  parlors  are  filled  with  works  of  art  which 
they  have  picked  up  during  their  travels  in 
Europe.  You  should  have  seen  the  two  high 
dignitaries  of  the  church  in  their  familiar,  un- 
reserved intercourse  on  this  evening  to  have  a 


EARLY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  249 

true  idea  of  the  Catholic  gentleman  and  ecclesi- 
astic. What  would  I  not  have  given  to  have 
you  present,  and  Brother  William  and  Sister 
Helen,  too. 

''During  the  evening  Mrs.  S.  made  known  to 
the  Nuncio  the  desire  of  her  servants  to  receive 
his  blessing.  They  were  thereupon  invited  in 
— six  Irish  girls  in  all — and  kneeled  before  him 
w^hile  he  pronounced  the  benediction  and  gave 
them  his  ring  to  kiss.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight 
and  I  venture  to  say  would  touch  the  heart  of 
any  but  a  bigoted  Evangelical  Protestant.  The 
Nuncio  speaks  the  English  language  very  im- 
perfectly, generally  conversing  in  French  and 
the  Archbishop  interprets,  but  last  night  he 
made  several  very  fair  attempts  to  converse 
with  the  ladies  in  English,  and  during  the  even- 
ing he  called  the  young  daughter  of  Mr.  S.  to 
him  and  had  quite  a  familiar  chat  with  her. 
She  is  about  the  age  of  Laura  and  I  am  happy 
to  be  able  to  say  I  believe  Laura  would  have 
conducted  herself  under  the  circumstances  as 
well  as  she  did.  She  was  rather  overawed  at 
first  and  did  not  seem  to  know  what  to  say,  but 
he  succeeded  by  great  familiarity  at  last  in 
drawing  her  out.  ...  I  have  always  been  struck 
with  the  great  affection  which  prevails  gener- 
ally among  Catholics,  old  and  young,  towards 
their  clergy." 


250  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

While  Mr,  Eicliarcls  was  a  guest  of  Arch- 
bishop Purcell's  at  Cincinnati,  the  famous 
I^ow  Nothing  movement  came  to  a  crisis  in 
that  city,  and  the  new  convert  was  actually 
asleep  in  the  house  on  the  night  of  the  chief 
outbreak,  when  the  mob  of  Popery  haters 
threatened  \dolence  to  the  Pope's  representa- 
tive. Their  attack  was  foiled  by  the  ingenuity 
and  presence  of  mind  of  Father  Edward  Pur- 
cell,  brother  of  the  Archbishop,  together  with 
the  vigilance  of  the  city  authorities,  but  not 
without  rioting  in  which  several  of  the  assail- 
ants lost  their  lives.  The  mob  was  composed 
largely  of  German  infidels  and  revolutionists, 
but  in  cooperation  with  these  were  the  members 
of  the  Native  American  or  Know  Nothing  party. 
These  narrow-minded  and  violent  fanatics  had 
organized  as  early  as  1843  a  political  party 
whose  main  objects  were  the  restriction  of  im- 
migration and  of  the  naturalization  of  foreign- 
ers and  the  repression  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Bloody  riots  marked  their  advent  in  Philadel- 
phia, where  a  number  of  Catholic  churches  were 
burned,  lives  were  lost,  and  the  city  was  kept 
in  a  state  of  terror  for  weeks.  The  same  scenes 
were  about  to  be  enacted  in  New  York,  where 
the  anti-Catholic  element  had  succeeded  in 
electing  their  candidate,  one  of  the  publishers 
of  Maria  Monk's  infamous  book,  as  Mayor 
in  1844;  but  they  were  cowed  by  the  bold  atti- 


EAELY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  251 

tude  of  Bishop  Hughes,  who  encouraged  the 
Catholics  to  defend  themselves.  When  Arch- 
bishop Bedini,  in  1853,  was  appointed  Nuncio 
to  Brazil,  he  was  commissioned  by  the  Holy 
Father,  Pius  IX,  to  make  an  informal  visita- 
tion of  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  to  re- 
port on  the  state  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  here 
and  to  attempt  the  reconciliation  of  two  schis- 
matical  parishes  which  had  obstinately  stood  out 
against  their  bishops.  Incidentally,  he  brought 
a  friendly  letter  from  the  Pope  to  President 
Pierce.  The  arrival  of  the  Nuncio  was  the 
signal  for  a  most  violent  outbreak  of  anti-Cath- 
olic hatred,  which  unfortunately  seemed  to  be 
shared  to  some  extent  by  the  majority  of  Con- 
gress and  by  high  officials  of  the  government. 
In  New  York,  the  Ita*lian  and  German  revolu- 
tionists who  had  taken  refuge  there,  urged  on 
by  the  apostate  priest  Gavazzi,  circulated  the 
most  monstrous  calumnies  against  the  Pope's 
representative.  A  plot  was  formed  to  assas- 
sinate him.  The  plan  was  revealed  to  its  in- 
tended victim  by  an  Italian  named  Sassi,  who 
was  himself  murdered  on  the  street  the  very 
next  day.  In  spite  of  the  dangers  that  threat- 
ened him  at  every  step,  the  prelate  went  on 
courageously  with  the  fulfilment  of  his  mission, 
visiting  in  succession  many  of  the  larger  cities 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  celebrating 
public  functions  everywhere  and  making  care- 


252  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

ful  observations.  His  subsequent  reports  to 
Pius  IX  evinced  great  good  judgment,  breadth 
of  mind  and  sincere  admiration  and  sympathy 
for  the  growing  Church  in  America.  Hostile 
demonstrations  were  met  in  Pittsburg.  But 
even  the  organized  attempt  to  attack  him  in 
Cincinnati,  to  hang  him  and  burn  the  Cathedral, 
did  not  shake  his  courage.  By  the  vigor  of  the 
public  authorities,  who  here  acted  in  good  faith 
and  promptly,  the  conspirators  w^ere  captured 
with  their  arms,  gallows  and  banner.  The 
Nuncio  officiated  not  only  in  the  Cathedral  but 
in  several  other  churches,  preaching  in  German ; 
and  we  have  seen  from  Mr.  Richards'  letter 
with  what  apparent  unconcern  he  bore  himself 
in  the  turbulent  city.  No  doubt  had  the  con- 
spiracy succeeded,  the  fervent  convert  who 
slept  soundly  in  the  Archbishop 's  house  through 
the  disturbance,  would  willingly  have  given  his 
life  in  such  good  company  for  his  new  faith. 

Very  shortly  after  this  visit,  Mr.  Eichards' 
financial  difficulties  were  put  an  end  to  for  the 
time,  just  as  he  was  almost  in  despair,  by  the 
simultaneous  offer  of  three  positions.  The 
most  favorable  of  these  was  from  his  old  friend, 
Elias  Fassett,  for  whom  he  had  prayed  so 
earnestly  in  youthful  days  and  who  was  now 
the  head  of  the  banking  house  of  Atwood,  Dun- 
levy  &  Co.,  in  Wall  Street.  ''I  said  to  myself," 
he  writes,  ''How  good  God  is!     And  how  won- 


EARLY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  253 

derfully  does  He  arrange  things  in  this  world 
so  as  to  show  us  our  dependence  on  Him ! ' ' 

Some  time  later,  Mr.  Richards  was  made 
managing  clerk  in  the  newly  established  bank- 
ing house  of  Eugene  Kelly  and  Co.  Here  he 
might  have  remained,  with  the  brightest  pros- 
pects for  the  future.  As  he  remarks  himself, 
the  house  of  Eugene  Kelly  and  Co.  seemed  to 
have  no  infancy  but  to  spring  at  once  into  the 
most  vigorous  life.  But  for  reasons  chiefly  of 
health,  Mr.  Richards  chose  a  more  modest 
position  in  the  Sheffield  steel  house  of  Sander- 
son Brothers  &  Co.,  under  their  New  York 
agent,  Mr.  Edward  Frith.  For  this  estimable 
Catholic  gentleman,  Mr.  Richards  felt  a  regard 
that  was  truly  brotherly.  He  long  kept  up  a 
correspondence  with  more  than  one  member  of 
the  family ;  and  during  the  last  illness  of  Mrs. 
Frith,  she  would  sometimes  call  for  Mr.  Rich- 
ards' letters  and  have  them  read  to  her  again, 
so  great  was  the  spiritual  consolation  that  she 
derived  from  them. 

Now  that  solicitude  for  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence had  been  removed,  Mr.  Richards  made 
arrangements  to  bring  from  Ohio  his  family, 
from  whom  he  had  been  separated,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  occasional  visits  to  Granville,  for 
three  years.  At  this  time  he  had  lodgings  in 
Jersey  City,  whither  he  had  been  led  by  the 
presence  of  old  Ohio  friends  and  connections, 


254  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

particularly  his  sister  Mary  and  her  husband, 
Virgil  Hillyer.  The  spirit  of  faith  which  he 
had  already  imbibed  is  indicated  by  his  making 
a  novena  in  union  with  the  Sisters  of  Charity 
of  St.  Peter's  Church,  before  setting  out  on  his 
search  for  a  house  to  shelter  his  family.  Need- 
less to  say  his  hunt  was  highly  successful. 

A  letter  written  to  Mrs.  Richards  at  this  time, 
taken  from  a  great  number  of  similar  ones, 
will  give  an  idea  of  his  intimate  correspondence : 

''Jersey  City,  Dec.  25,  1854. 
"Christmas  Morning. 
''My  dear  Wife: 

*'I  have  just  returaed  from  Mass — Christ 
Mas — and  a  glorious  time  we  have  had  of  it. 
At  half  past  five  the  church  was  brilliantly 
lighted,  the  altar  splendidly  decorated,  and 
with  fine  music,  a  thronging  and  eager,  and  I 
trust  a  devout  congregation  to  assist  in  offering 
the  great  sacrifice,  it  was  really  very  delightful 
— quite  thrilling  indeed,  and  I  enjoyed  it  much. 
I  wish  you  could  have  been  here  and  the  dear 
children.    I  know  you  would  have  enjoyed  it. 

Evening. 

''Well,  the  day  is  passed  and  such  a  day! 
Immediately  after  breakfast  I  started  up  town 
(New  York).  I  thought  I  would  start  early  so 
as  to  visit  some  of  the  churches.     The  first  one 


EAELY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  255 

I  visited  was  the  Church  of  the  Advent  in  2nd 
Avenue  of  which  Eev.  Mr.  McChisky  is  pastor, 
one  of  the  finest  priests  in  the  city, — a  man  of 
fine  talent  in  ecclesiastical  arrangement.  I 
never  saw  anything  more  beautifully  and 
chastely  decorated  than  his  altar.  It  was 
really  quite  magnificent.  But  the  crowning 
object  of  attraction  was  the  representation  of 
the  Nativity.  Inside  the  chancel  on  one  side 
of  the  altar,  was  a  miniature  representation  of 
the  stable  at  Bethlehem,  with  the  Infant  Jesus 
lying  in  his  little  bed  of  straw  in  the  manger, 
with  Joseph  and  Maiy  and  everything  in  per- 
fection even  to  the  green  hay  in  the  manger  and 
the  oxen  in  their  stalls — ^little  angels  hovering 
over  the  Infant  Jesus,  and  the  shepherds  clad 
in  their  sheepskin  garments  and  with  crooks  in 
their  hands  adoring  Him  whom  the  angel  had 
taught  them  to  look  upon  as  the  Son  of  the 
Highest.  There  were  rocks  and  trees  and 
grass,  and  moss-covered  banks  and  over  all  a 
bright  star.  It  was  really  very  beautiful  and 
the  people  were  crowding  around  to  get  a  look 
at  it,  and  holding  up  their  little  children  to  get 
a  peep  at  the  Infant  Savior  in  His  lowly  bed. 
' '  I  went  from  there  to  the  Church  of  the  Ke- 
demptorists  in  3rd  Street,  of  which  you  know  I 
have  a  picture  at  home.  There  they  had  an- 
other representation  of  the  Nativity  on  a  much 
larger  scale.     In  a  large  niche  of  the  church  all 


256  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

surrounded  by  evergreens  so  as  to  look  like 
thick  woods,  there  was  quite  a  district  of  the 
hill  country  of  Judea — with  roads  running  over 
the  hills  and  houses  scattered  here  and  there 
and  men  riding  and  walking,  and  then  in  front 
a  patch  of  level  country  and  a  stable  and  all  the 
usual  concomitants,  which  presented  upon  the 
whole  a  very  unique  and  impressive  scene.     I 
crowded  up  with  the  rest,  got  a  glimpse  of  it, 
said  my  prayers  and  retired  to  the  Jesuits' 
Church.     That  was  very  beautiful.     There  was 
no  representation,  but  the  church  was  so  neatly 
and  tastefully  trimmed.     The  church  itself  is 
magnificent,  especially  about  the  altar  (though 
they  call  it  only  a  chapel)  and  they  had  more 
evergreens,  more  wreaths  and  festoons  than  I 
saw  anywhere  else.     From  there  I  went  to  my 
own  St.  Ann's.    Here  everything  was  chaste 
and  neat  and  beautiful,  especially  the  brilliant 
display  of  lights  on  the  altar, — and  the  service, 
—what  shall  I  say  of  it?    I  cannot  describe  it. 
I  was  deeply  affected — I  was  over[50wered.    It 
seemed   like    a   foretaste    of   the   worship    of 
Heaven    and   I   longed   to   be    there.     Father 
Forbes  gave  us  one  of  the  most  powerful,  im- 
pressive and  eloquent  sermons  I  ever  listened 
to  on  the  love  and  condescension  of  Almighty 
God  in  visiting  this  world  to  redeem  and  save 
us.    I  think  there  were  few  dry  eyes  in  the 
house.    I  am  not  ashamed  to  say  that  I  wept 


EARLY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  257 

like  a  child.  Oh,  that  I  could  always  carry  with 
me  the  impression  of  that  delightful  season.  I 
noticed  two  Protestant  ladies  in  Dr.  Forbes' 
pew,  who  I  presume  were  some  of  his  old 
friends.  They  seemed  a  little  puzzled  as  to 
how  to  act  in  conforming  to  the  service  but  they 
listened  very  intently  and  seemed  to  be  much 
affected  by  the  sermon.  How  I  did  pray  that 
they  might  be  converted  to  the  truth  and 
led  into  the  beautiful  pastures  of  Christ's 
Holy  Church.  And  oh,  dear  wife,  how  have 
I  remembered  you  and  the  dear  ones  at 
home,  especially  w^hen  going  to  the  altar. 
Oh,  how  I  do  long  then  to  take  you  all  in 
my  arms  and  lay  you  in  the  arms  of  Jesus  that 
we  may  all  be  His,  united  in  love  to  Him  and 
to  each  other  in  Him. 

"I  was  struck  to-day  with  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  Catholic  Church  and  the  Episcopal. 
Everywhere  I  went,  the  Catholic  churches  were 
crowded  with  people,  or  at  least  were  all  open 
and  people  coming  and  going,  offering  their 
devotions  in  private,  or  the  service  was  going 
on  in  which  they  all  seemed  very  devoutly  to 
join,  and  it  was  so  from  a  very  early  hour, 
each  priest,  you  know,  having  the  privilege  of 
saying  three  Masses  on  Christmas,  and  when 
they  have  two  or  three  priests  they  have  a  num- 
ber of  Masses,  sufficient  to  accommodate  every 
one.    As    I   passed   by    Grace    Church    {'The 


258  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Cliurcli,'  you  know)  I  was  struck  with  tlie  con- 
trast.   AYliile    I   was   jet    some    distance    oft, 
thinks  I,  I  will  go  in  and  see  how  'The  Church' 
looks.    I  approached  and  there  happened  to  be 
a  darkey  sweeping  off  the  snow  and  ice  inside 
the  fence,  but  the  doors  were  all  shut  and  there 
was  no  ingress.     Just  then  a  lady,  quite  respect- 
able looking  and  well  dressed,  came  up  as  if 
desiring  to  go  into  the  church.     She  spoke  to 
the  darkey.     I  did  not  hear  what  was  said,  but 
she  turned  away  and  went  off.     The  time  for 
service  had  not  arrived.    I  was  not  very  much 
disappointed  myself,  as  I  did  not  care  particu- 
larly to  see  the  church,  but  I  really  did  feel 
sorry  for  the  poor  lady  and  I  could  not  but 
think  what  a   blessed  privilege   we   poor  be- 
nighted Catholics  enjoyed  over  the  refined,  in- 
telligent and  enlightened  members  of  the  Re- 
formed Episcopal  Church.     Oh,  great  and  holy 
and  beautiful  is  Holy  Mother  Church,  and  I  felt 
to-day    like    exclaiming    with    St.    Augustine: 
'Too  late  have  I  known  thee,  oh  Ancient  and 
Eternal  Truth!    Too  late  have  I  known  thee, 
too  late  have  I  loved  thee ! '  " 

Mrs.  Richards  and  the  four  children  arrived 
in  Jersey  City  in  September,  1855.  The  former 
was  baptized  conditionally  in  St.  Peter's 
Church,  May  4th,  1856,  more  than  four  years 
after  Mr.  Richards'  reception.     Tenderly  de- 


EAELY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  259 

voted  as  slie  was  to  her  husband,  and  regard- 
ing him  throughout  life  with  a  profound  rever- 
ence for  the  virtues  which  she  knew  better  than 
any  other,  she  yet  could  not  follow  his  footsteps 
in  religious  matters  and  accept  his  new  faith, 
unless  her  mind  were  fully  satisfied  of  its  truth. 
She  was  possessed  of  a  keen  intelligence  and  a 
profound  sense  of  duty.     She  felt  deeply  the 
injustice  of  the  furious  outcry  raised  against 
her  husband.     But  she  had  not  had  equal  oppor- 
tunities   with    him    of   knowing    the    Catholic 
Church;   and  the  strenuous  opposition   of  all 
those  whom  she  had  loved  and  revered  during 
life  might  well  make  her  pause.     The  battle 
was  long  and  severe.    Very  tenderly  and  pa- 
tiently did  her  husband  strive,  in  his  letters,  in 
his  occasional  visits  to  the  old  home,  and  after 
their  reunion  in  the  East,  in  the  daily  inter- 
course of  life,  to  smooth  away  her  prejudices 
and  to  open  her  mind  and  heart  to  the  truth  and 
beauty  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  as  he  knew  and 
possessed  it.     At  the  close  of  one  long  letter, 
he  writes:     "God  bless  you,  dear  wife,  and 
open  your  heart  to  receive  the  truth !    I  do  not 
ask  you  to  try  to  believe  as  I  do.     I  only  ask 
that  you  will  try  to  be  perfectly  candid  and  un- 
prejudiced and  seek  for  the  truth  with  the  spirit 
of  a  little  child.     Then  God  will  bless  you,  what- 
ever conclusion  you  come  to,  and  it  will  be  well 
with  you  for  time  and  eternity." 


2G0  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Cynthia  felt  very  deeply  the  disadvantages 
and  miserv  of  a  familv  di^ided  in  relioion.  She 
asked  her  Protestant  friends  and  advisers 
whether  they  believed  that  she  could  attain 
salvation  as  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
They  were  compelled  to  admit  that  she  could. 
"Then,"  she  said,  "I  am  going  to  study  Cath- 
olic teaching,  and  if  I  find  that  I  can  conscien- 
tiously embrace  it,  I  shall. ' '  At  the  end  of  four 
years  of  study,  questioning,  reflection  and 
prayer,  she  saw  clearly  that  she  not  only  could, 
iDut  must,  accept  the  Catholic  Faith  in  its  full- 
ness. From  that  time  she  was  as  loyal  and 
devout  a  Catholic  as  her  husband.  The  chil- 
dren were  received  at  various  dates,  some  be- 
fore and  some  after  their  mother.  Laura,  the 
eldest,  though  only  a  child,  showed  herself 
a  staunch  little  Protestant  and  declared  loudly 
that  no  matter  who  should  desert  that  banner, 
she  would  remain  firm.  Her  father  sent  her  to 
the  Catholic  school  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  and 
there,  under  the  teaching  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  and  especially  the  gentle  influence  of 
the  saintly  Sister  Editha,  she  soon  became  the 
most  ardent  Catholic  of  the  family. 

These  events  were  the  source  of  unbounded 
consolation  to  the  new  convert.  "With  all  his 
family  safely  gathered  into  the  true  fold  and 
thoroughly  united  with  him  in  heart  and  soul, 
he  felt  himself  strong  to  face  the  world  and  to 


EARLY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  261 

undergo  whatever  trials  might  await  him.  He 
entered  joyously  upon  a  life  of  religious  ac- 
tivity and  labor,  which  though  of  an  unpreten- 
tious kind  and  necessarily -limited  to  the  scanty 
hours  of  leisure  left  him  by  his  business  en- 
gagements, was  nevertheless  of  astonishing 
proportions  and  effectiveness. 

From  the  moment  of  his  reception  into  the 
Church,  the   former  Minister  was  completely 
changed.    In  the  words  of  a  more  recent  con- 
vert, instead  of  his  struggling  to  hold  the  Faith, 
the  Faith  held  liun.    It  penetrated  and  pos- 
sessed and  ruled  his  whole  being.     The  anxious 
questionings  that  had  disturbed  his  mind  for 
so  many  years  gave  place  to  secure  rest  and 
inward  peace.     He  was  at  home  at  last,  and  his 
spiritual  nature  flowered  out  in  a  way  that 
showed  it  had  found  congenial  soil  and  sun- 
shine.   Mr.  Richards  never  underwent  such  a 
period  of  acclimatization  as  some  converts  ex- 
perience after  their  entrance  into  the  Church. 
He  never  felt  any  of  their  repugnances  to  Cath- 
olic doctrines,  the  result,  no  doubt,  of  their  early 
prejudices.    As  he  said  himself,  he  ''took  it 
strong."    From  the  beginning,  he  was  as  fer- 
vent and  enthusiastic  in  all  the  exercises  of 
Catholic  piety  as  though  he  had  been  reared  in 
the  faith.     The  invocation   of  the   saints  and 
special  devotions  to  them  and  imitation  of  their 
virtues,  particularly  of  the  Blessed  Mother ;  the 


262  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

use  of  pictures  and  statues,  of  holy  water  and 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  gaining  of  indulgences, 
and  all  such  practices  of  Catholic  devotion  were 
welcomed  by  him  with  a  traly  childlike  simplic- 
ity and  manly  piety.  His  rosary  was  always 
with  him,  and  when  traveling  on  the  cars  or 
the  ferry  boat,  his  favorite  occupation  was  to 
recite  the  beads  unnoticed.  The  offices  of  his 
good  wife  were  frequently  called  into  requisition 
to  mend  the  pockets  worn  through  by  the  con- 
stant handling  of  the  beads.  Mr,  Richards  had 
too  much  good  sense  to  be  subject  in  any  degree 
to  that  strange  and  ridiculous  fear  that  haunts 
some  timid  souls  lest  the  saints  should  stand 
between  them  and  Christ,  the  only  Mediator. 
He  knew,  with  the  instinct  of  human  nature  and 
of  Faitli,  without  argument,  that  it  cannot  be 
an  obstacle  to  friendship  with  the  Savior  to 
love  His  Mother  and  His  friends,  and  that  He 
cannot  repel  the  soul  from  His  embrace  because 
it  seeks  Him  accompanied  by  His  best  beloved. 
From  the  beginning  of  his  Catholic  life,  he  re- 
ceived Holy  Communion  frequently,  on  Sun- 
days and  all  the  principal  feasts.  No  one  who 
beheld  on  these  occasions  his  rapt  countenance 
and  the  tears  trickling  down  his  cheeks,  could 
doubt  for  a  moment  the  closeness  of  his  union 
with  His  divine  Lord.  The  practice  of  mental 
prayer  soon  became  familiar  to  him,  though 
even  before  he  learned  any  set  method  of  medi- 


EARLY  CATHOLIC  LIFE  263 

tation,  his  constant  preoccupation  with  Divine 
things,  his  frequent  aspirations  during  the  day 
and  the  reading  of  spiritual  books,  which 
formed  one  of  his  chief  delights,  combined  to 
make  his  life  almost  a  continual  prayer  and 
direct  union  with  God. 

Another  beneficial  effect  of  the  Catholic  at- 
mosphere was  the  gradual  mellowing  of  the 
character  of  the  former  Puritan  and  Minister. 
In  spite  of  the  acknowledged  personal  magnet- 
ism and  unselfish  devotedness  which  had  helped 
to  make  him  so  much  loved  by  his  people  and 
particularly  by  the  poor,  he  had  always  retained 
a  certain  degree  of  stitfness  and  preciseness  of 
manner,  with  a  slight  tendency  to  too  great 
warmth  and  severity  in  reprimanding.  This 
latter  trait  was  never  entirely  overcome ;  but  it 
was  rather  an  ardent  and  vehement  reprobation 
of  everj'thing  bad,  low  and  faulty  than  any  per- 
sonal harshness.  For  the  rest,  a  certain  joyous 
enthusiasm  and  a  kindly  good  humor  and  ready 
sjTnpathy  for  others,  joined  to  his  intense  zeal, 
made  his  piety  most  attractive  and  encouraging 
to  all  who  came  to  know  him,  Protestants  as 
well  as  Catholics. 


CHAPTER  X 

NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABOES 

At  that  early  period,  St.  Peter's  was  the  only 
Catholic  church  in  Jersey  City.  It  was  a  small 
building  of  stone,  on  Grand  St.,  and  has  long 
since  disappeared  to  make  room  for  the  new 
convent  and  parish  school.  The  Eev.  John 
Kelly,  the  pastor,  was  a  favorable  example  of 
the  parish  priest  of  the  old  regime.  White- 
haired,  ruddy-faced,  amiable  in  disposition, 
gentle  and  fatherly  in  manner  as  well  as  in 
heart,  he  had  the  love  and  intense  devotion  of 
his  people.  Most  unworldly  himself,  he  had 
learned  to  know  the  world  and  human  nature 
by  a  long  and  varied  experience.  Educated  in 
part  at  Mt.  St.  Mary's  College,  Emmittsburg, 
he  spent  a  short  time  with  the  Jesuit  Fathers 
at  Frederick,  ^Id.,  where  he  taught  in  the 
nascent  College  of  St.  John,  together  with 
James  Curley,  aftei-ward  the  distinguished  and 
venerable  founder  and  director  of  the  George- 
toAvn  College  Observ^atory.  After  ordination 
and  some  time  spent  in  parish  work  in  Albany, 
the  young  priest  volunteered  to  take  part  in  the 
mission  to  the  Eepublic  of  Liberia,  on  the  West 

264 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     265 

Coast  of  Africa,  whicli  had  been  detennined 
upon  by  the  second  Provincial  Council  of  Balti- 
more in  1833.  Catholics  had  taken  a  consider- 
able share  in  the  founding  of  this  place  of 
refuge  for  liberated  slaves.  Charles  Carroll  of 
Carrollton  was  at  one  time  president  of  the 
American  Colonization  Society,  and  a  number 
of  the  earliest  colonists  were  Catholic  negroes 
from  Maryland  and  the  adjoining  States.  With 
Very  Rev.  Edward  Barron,  Vicar  General  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Denis  Pindar,  a  lay  catechist, 
Father  Kelly  reached  the  colony  early  in  18-12. 
After  a  year  or  two.  Father  Barron  was  made 
Bishop,  and  was  joined  by  seven  priests  of  the 
Congregation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Five  of  these 
Fathers  died  of  the  terrible  African  fever,  as 
did  also  the  Catechist.  The  two  American 
priests,  themselves  wasted  by  the  same  disease, 
gave  up  the  mission  and  returned  to  the  United 
States.  Father  Kelly  brought  with  him,  with 
great  pains,  the  skin  of  a  huge  chimpanzee  as 
a  contribution  to  the  Georgetown  College 
Museum  of  Natural  History.  This  found  its 
way  later  to  the  United  States  Museum  under 
the  care  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  where  it 
still  remains,  constituting  probably  the  only 
existing  monument  of  this  early  effort  in  foreign 
missionary  labor  by  Catholics  of  the  United 
States.  Father  Kelly  found  at  last  his  true 
missionary  field  in  the  ordinary  work  of  the 


266  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

secular  clergy.  The  factories  and  crowded 
garrets  of  the  poorer  quarters  of  Jersey  City 
afforded  abundant  scope  for  his  zeal  and 
charity.  The  waves  of  Irish  emigration  which 
had  risen  to  unprecedented  heights  during  the 
black  years  of  the  famine  still  continued  to 
break  upon  the  shores  of  xVmerica.  The  great 
majority  of  the  Catholic  people  were  poor  and 
struggling.  Father  Kelly  devoted  himself 
with  his  whole  heart  and  soul  to  their  assistance, 
not  only  spiritual  but  temporal.  It  was  fortu- 
nate for  Mr.  Richards  and  his  family  that  their 
first  pastor  was  one  whom  they  could  love  and 
admire  so  heartily.  He  took  a  kindly  and 
fatherlv  interest  in  their  welfare.  At  the  same 
time  he  had  the  sagacity  to  discern  the  new 
convert's  capacity  for  religious  work  and  to 
avail  himself  of  it  in  the  interests  of  the  parish. 
In  this  he  differed  from  many  pastors  of  that 
day,  who  rather  discouraged  and  repelled  lay 
participation  in  Church  work.  Indeed,  it  can- 
not be  said  that  this  spirit  has  entirely  died  out 
even  yet,  although  anything  more  inimical  to 
the  true  spirit  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  de- 
structive of  her  influence  on  modem  society  can 
scarcely  be  imagined.  Mr.  Eichards  was  at 
once  enlisted  as  a  teacher  in  the  Sunday  School, 
a  function  which  he  continued  throughout  life, 
either  as  a  preceptor  or  superintendent,  in  the 
various  parishes  in  which  he  dwelt. 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     267 

Another  lifelong  work  of  Mr.  Richards  which 
began  at  this  period  was  that  of  the  Conference 
of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  The  year  1857  saw  the 
first  beginnings  of  one  of  the  greatest  commer- 
cial and  financial  panics  that  have  disturbed 
the  business  world  of  America.  Widespread 
and  acute  distress  prevailed,  affecting  of  course 
particularly  the  relatively  poor  Catholic  com- 
munity. To  assist  in  meeting  these  evils,  a 
conference  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul 
was  organized  on  October  4th,  1857,  the  first 
in  Jersey  City,  and  probably  one  of  the  earliest 
in  the  United  States.  In  this  work  Mr.  Rich- 
ards was  the  leading  spirit.  He  served  as  Sec- 
retary of  the  first  meeting  and  was  immediately 
elected  President.  So  energetic  were  his  efforts 
and  those  of  his  fellow  workers,  though  they 
were  few  in  number  and  themselves  mostly  of 
very  limited  means,  that  after  six  months,  when 
the  President  wrote  to  Archbishop  Bayley  to 
ask  episcopal  approbation  for  the  enterprise, 
he  was  able  to  report  that  through  the  liberal- 
ity of  Father  Kelly  ' '  and  that  of  his  worthy  as- 
sistants, who  have  not  only  taken  up  frequent 
collections  but  also  contributed  freely  from 
their  own  private  means,  we  have  succeeded  in 
raising  nearly  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  which 
has  been  all  expended  in  the  various  modes  of 
charity  peculiar  to  the  Society.  We  have  con- 
tributed relief  to  some  three  hundred  families, 


268  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

embracing  nearly  one  thousand  persons,  and  in 
the  discharge  of  their  self-denying  duties  the 
visiting  committees  have  made  over  fifteen  hun- 
dred visits  to  the  poor  and  distributed  more 
than  two  thousand  tickets  of  relief.  We  have 
reason  to  believe  that  but  for  the  timely  insti- 
tution of  our  society  there  must  have  been  a 
large  amount  of  extreme  suffering  and  distress 
among  our  people,  especially  as  the  prejudices 
of  our  Protestant  fellow  citizens  are  in  many 
cases  so  strong  as  to  prevent  their  contributing 
anvthing  to  the  relief  of  the  Catholic  poor." 

In  the  year  1859,  the  new  parish  of  St.  Mary's 
being  cut  off  from  St.  Peter's,  Mr.  Kichards 
found  himself  under  the  spiritual  direction  of 
the  new  Pastor,  Rev.  Dominic  Senez.  For  this 
worthy  priest,  the  new  convert  soon  learned  to 
feel  a  profound  reverence  and  tender  attach- 
ment. Father  Senez  was  above  all  a  spiritual 
man,  devoted  to  prayer  and  meditation.  But 
he  was  also  most  zealous  and  self-sacrificing  in 
his  work  for  his  flock,  and  capalile  and  energetic 
in  the  management  of  the  material  affairs  of 
his  parish.  His  familiar  homilies  were  master- 
pieces of  true  pastoral  eloquence.  His  viva- 
cious yet  fatherly  and  spiritual  conversation  in 
private  life  and  in  his  pastoral  visits  endeared 
him  to  every  family.  They  felt  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  came  with  him  and  that  peace  and  fervor 
lingered  after  him  in  the  household.     The  firm 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     269 

and  enlightened  direction  in  the  confessional, 
of ^  which  Father  Senez  was  master,  was  par- 
ticularly valuable  to  the  new  convert  with  his 
scrupulous  conscience,  ardent  devotion,  self- 
contempt  and  desire  for  penance. 

In  April,  1859,  Mr.  Richards  resigned  the 
presidency  of  the  St.  Peter's  Conference  of  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul  and  organized  another  in  St. 
Mary's  parish,  of  which  he  was  as  before  the 
head  and  the  soul.  His  devoted  service  in  this 
Conference  is  described  for  us  by  a  friend  and 
co-laborer.  Captain  James  Conroy,  now  an 
Adjuster  of  Marine  Insurance  but  at  that 
time  a  young  Captain  of  a  tugboat  plying 
in  New  York  harbor.^  Capt.  Conroy  says: 
*'I  was  a  rather  wild  young  man,  allowed 
to  grow  up  with  almost  no  religion.  AVlien 
quite  young,  I  had  run  away  to  sea  and 
since  that  time  I  had  scarcely  entered  a  church. 
One  evening  I  was  on  my  way  with  a  party  of 
young  men  to  the  Elysian  Fields,  Hoboken. 
Passing  St.  Mary's  Church,  which  was  filled 
with  people,  I  caught  a  glimpse  through  the 
open  door  of  a  large  crucifix  in  the  sanctuary. 
Though  I  was  a  Catholic,  the  sight  was  strange 
to  me  and  I  went  in.  A  mission  was  in  progress 
given  by  the  Paulist  Fathers.  Father  Baker  was 
preaching.    As  I  listened,  he  described  my  life 

1  (Note) — Captain  Conroy  died  shortly  after  the  above  ac- 
count was  written,  but  not  before  having  read  it  and  ap- 
proved of  this  whole  chapter  aa  perfectly  accurate. 


270  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

exactly.     Every  word  seemed  intended  for  me 
individually,    and   I   wondered   how   he    could 
know  my  interior  so  perfectly.    From  that  mo- 
ment I  was  a  changed  man.    I  began  the  fer- 
vent  practice    of   my   religion.     Soon   I   was 
noticed  by  Mr.  Richards,  who  introduced  him- 
self to  me,  and  we  became  fast  friends.     The 
example  of  his  fervor,  his  unwearying  zeal  and 
his  cheerful,  genial  kindness,  exerted  a  power- 
ful influence   over  me.    At  his   suggestion,  I 
joined  the  little  Conference  of  St.  Alncent  de 
Paul.     Very  often,  after  the  evening  rosary  in 
the  church  and  visit  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
he  would  say :     '  Come,  Captain,  there  are  many 
poor  families  suffering  to-night.     Let  us  get  a 
handful    of   tickets   from   Henry   Carroll,   the 
baker,  and  see  what  we  can  do  to  relieve  them.' 
Sometimes  it  was  snowing  hard  or  raining,  and 
I  felt  strongly  inclined  to  answer  that  as  I  had 
to  take  my  boat  out  early  in  the  morning,  I 
preferred  to  go  home  and  to  bed.    But  I  could 
not  resist  his  infectious  zeal.    We  made  our 
rounds  among  the  poor  families,  of  whom  there 
were  indeed  great  numbers.    Everywhere  his 
coming  brought  not  only  relief  but  consolation 
and  courage.    I  used  to  wonder  at  the  skillful 
way  in  which,  after  having  relieved  their  tem- 
poral wants  as  far  as  lay  in  his  power,  he  went 
on  to  ask  them,  quite  naturally  and  sympathet- 
ically, about  their  spiritual  affairs,  their  attend- 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     271 

ance  at  mass,  reception  of  the  sacraments,  tlie 
Catholic  education  of  their  children,  et  cetera. 
Everyone  confided  in  him  at  once.  Yet  he  was 
clear  sighted  in  detecting  impositions.  Once 
we  visited  the  house  of  a  woman  undoubtedly 
poor  and  in  need,  where  we  found  several  neigh- 
bors gathered  with  her  about  a  table.  Mr. 
Richards  gave  the  relief  in  his  usual  kind  way, 
but  when  we  had  gone  out  he  said:  'Captain, 
we  must  come  back  here.  There  is  something 
going  on. '  After  attending  to  the  next  case  on 
our  route,  we  returned,  knocked  and  entered 
suddenly,  and  found  the  women  still  about  the 
table  with  a  huge  pail  of  beer  in  the  center. 
My  companion  reprimanded  them,  indeed  gave 
them  a  warm  lecture,  yet  in  so  gentle  a  way  as 
to  leave  no  sting." 

During  the  dark  days  of  distress  that  pre- 
ceded the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Richards '  kitchen  was 
thronged  every  evening,  and  even  in  the  morn- 
ings at  the  breakfast  hour,  with  poor  people 
seeking  help  in  their  misery.  To  all  of  them 
he  attended  with  unalterable  patience  and  sym- 
pathy. That  cold,  suspicious  spirit  that  too 
often  grows  upon  charity  workers,  leading 
them  to  see  in  every  poor  man  an  impostor  and 
to  take  more  satisfaction  in  detecting  a  fraud 
than  in  relieving  real  distress,  was  odious  to 
his  mind.  Neither  did  he  ever  show  a  trace  of 
that  haughty  condescension  and  rudeness  which 


272  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

too  often  take  from  beneficence  all  its  grace  and 
force  the  poor  to  accept  an  insult  with  the  alms. 
His  charity  was  supernatural — and  therefore 
more  exquisitely  and  perfectly  natural,  not 
forced  or  assumed. 

It  was  probably  in  connection  with  his  work 
in  the  Conference  that  Mr.  Richards  was  led  to 
take  an  active  share  in  improving  the  condition 
of  the  public  penal  and  charitable  institutions 
of  Hudson  County.  The  treatment  of  prisoners 
and  paupers  was  at  that  time  far  from  satisfac- 
tory. Dirt  and  inhumanity  wore  much  too  com- 
mon. Still  more  objectionable  was  the  almost 
total  exclusion  of  the  Catholic  clerg\"  from  all 
religious  ministrations  in  many  of  these  places. 
We  at  the  present  day  can  perhaps  hardly 
realize  to  what  extent  and  with  what  bitter 
jealousy  the  Church  was  barred  out  from  this 
most  necessary  field  of  her  lifegiving  labors, 
and  what  a  battle  our  fathers  had  to  fight  in 
order  to  gain  their  plain  rights  in  a  country 
proud  of  liberty  and  boasting  of  religious  free- 
dom. Wlierever  the  battle  was  fought  and  won, 
the  officials  afterward  recognized  and  acknowl- 
edged that  She  whom  they  had  opposed  as  their 
enemy  had  proved  to  be  really  the  best  friend 
and  most  efficient  helper  in  their  task.  But  the 
conflict  while  it  lasted  was  bitter  and  stubborn. 

Several  Catholic  gentlemen  in  Jersey  City 
banded  themselves  together  to  remedy  the  bale- 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     273 

ful  conditions.  Mr.  Charles  H.  O'Neill,  a  pros- 
perous merchant,  who  was  universally  respected 
for  his  sturdy,  energetic  character  and  spotless 
integrity,  became  their  leader.  He  and  Captain 
Conroy  and  others  were  elected  to  the  Board  of 
Freeholders.  They  visited  the  institutions 
regularly,  pointed  out  abuses  coming  under 
their  personal  notice,  and  insisted  on  reform 
and  improvement.  Mr.  Richards  aided  them 
with  his  pen,  advocating  the  measures  in  the 
public  press  and  drawing  up  protests  to  the 
authorities.  The  result  was  a  rapid  and  per- 
manent improvement  in  every  department.  All 
the  public  institutions  were  opened  to  the  visits 
of  the  priest.  The  new  poor  house  at  Snake 
Hill  was  a  vast  improvement  upon  its  predeces- 
sor. Mr.  0  'Neill  was  repeatedly  elected  Mayor 
of  the  city,  and  fulfilled  the  duties  of  that  office 
with  such  integrity  and  independence  as  to  com- 
mand the  profound  respect  of  all  good  citizens. 
A  great  victory  had  been  gained  by  quiet  and 
persistent  effort,  w^ithout  any  of  the  spectacular 
features  that  accompany  so  many  reform  move- 
ments in  the  same  field  at  the  present  day — fea- 
tures which  sometimes  lead  a  much  deceived 
public  to  suspect  that  the  whole  agitation  is 
intended  more  for  the  political  advantage  of 
the  reformers  than  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor 
and  unfortunate. 

One  of  the  greastest  pleasures  and  encourage- 


274  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

ments  enjoyed  by  Mr.  Eicliards  at  this  time  was 
the  friendship  of  many  converts  like  himself. 
The  movement  of  which  he  had  been  one  of  the 
first  fruits  in  the  West  had  had,  as  we  have  seen 
in  a  preceding  chapter,  an  earlier  spring  and 
more  abundant  fruitage  in  the  Eastern  States, 
particularly   in  New  York.     Hence   after   the 
first  difficulties  of  his  position  had  been  over- 
come and  his  natural  shyness  and  timidity  had 
in  some  degree  worn  otf,  he  found  liimself  wel- 
comed by  a  very  considerable  number  of  ed- 
ucated   and    distinguished   men,    among    both 
clergy  and  laity,  who  had  preceded  or  followed 
him  into  the  Church.    In  a  single  letter  written 
from  Albany  on  Easter  Sunday,  1858,  in  which 
he    gives    an    enthusiastic    description    of    a 
Pontifical    High    Mass    at    the    Cathedral,    he 
speaks  of  meeting  Eev.  Edgar  P.  Wadhams, 
afterward   Bishop   of   Ogdensburgh,   Mr.    and 
Mrs.  Norman  C.  Stoughton  ("the  veritable  Mr. 
Stoughton  to  whom  Havens  paid  a  visit  once 
with  the  intention  of  giving  him  a  call  to  St. 
Paul's,  Columbus"),  Mr.  William  S.  Preston, 
brother  of  Eev.  Thos.  S.  (afterward  Monsignor) 
Preston  of  New  York,  and  his  family,  and  a 
Mrs.  Holt  of  Washington.     Of  the  Prestons  he 
says  that  Mr.  Preston,  ''his  wife,  his  wife's 
mother  and  wife 's  grandmother  have  all  by  the 
grace  of  God  been  brought  into  the  Church. 
Including  Mr.  Preston's  children,  there  were 


NEW  FEIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     275 

four  generations  present."  Among  the  cler- 
ical converts  with  whom  he  came  frequently  in 
contact  and  with  several  of  whom  he  contracted 
warm  and  lasting  friendships,  were,  beside 
Fathers  Preston  and  Wadhams  mentioned 
above.  Doctor  William  Everett,  Pastor  of  the 
Church  of  the  Nativity,  Fathers  Hecker,  Baker, 
Young  and  all  the  band  of  Founders  of  the  Paul- 
ist  Society,  and  Rev.  Edward  Dwight  Lyman, 
who  like  Mr.  Richards  had  begun  life  as  a  Pres- 
byterian. With  Dr.  Forbes,  then  a  priest  at 
St.  Ann's  Church,  he  was  slightly  acquainted. 
The  relapse  of  this  clever  convert  into  Protes- 
tantism was  a  profound  grief  to  Mr.  Richards, 
who  found  it  hard  to  account  for  such  a  step. 
Wliile  Dr.  Forbes  was  at  St.  Ann's,  his  two 
daughters  kept  house  for  him.  The  good  Irish 
Catholics,  it  is  said,  could  never  reconcile  them- 
selves to  hearing  these  young  ladies  speak  of 
the  joriest  as  ''Papa." 

Of  the  converts  who  like  himself  had  been  un- 
able or  unwilling  to  embrace  the  priesthood, 
the  leader  was  undoubtedly  Orestes  A.  Brown- 
son,  whose  writings  had  exerted  so  powerful  an 
influence  in  Mr.  Richards'  conversion.  Brown- 
son  was  then  writing  and  lecturing  in  New 
York.  The  great  reviewer  was  a  man  of  gigan- 
tic frame  and  splendid  proportions.  His  broad 
shoulders  supported  a  magnificent,  domelike 
head,  with  a  great  mane  and  beard  of  gray  hair. 


276  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

He  was  kindly  and  almost  jovial  in  manner,  but 
careless  of  bis  personal  appearance.  On  or- 
dinary occasions  bis  sbirt  front  was  soiled  witb 
snuff.  But  wben  be  appeared  in  public,  be  was 
propriety  and  dignity  itself.  His  leonine  as- 
pect and  majestic  bearing,  bis  ricb  and  power- 
ful voice  and  tbe  force  and  vigor  ^^^tll  wbicb  be 
poured  forth  argument  and  criticism,  combined 
to  produce  an  ineffaceable  impression.  Mr. 
Ricbards  considered  Brownson's  style,  in  its 
mingled  strengtb  and  copiousness,  its  absolute 
clarity  of  logic  and  keenness  of  pbilosopbic  in- 
sigbt,  and  a  certain  irresistible  rusb  and  sweep 
of  tbougbt  and  argument,  to  be  unequaled  in 
American  literature. 

It  is  mucb  to  be  regretted  tbat  Brownson's 
immense  powers  seem  to  liave  been  allowed  to 
run  comparatively  to  waste  after  bis  conver- 
sion. His  Review,  incomparably  tbe  most 
powerful  defender  of  tbe  Cburcli  at  tbat  period, 
kept  up  a  struggling  existence.  Ardent  and 
impatient  natures  may  be  tempted  to  question 
wbetber  any  institution  in  tbe  world  allows 
such  stores  of  available  energy  to  go  unutilized 
as  tbe  Catbolic  Cburcb.  In  tliis  sbe  is  no  doubt 
like  Nature  itself  wbicb  lavishes  incalculable 
forces  in  tbe  waterfall,  the  tides,  and  tbe  play 
of  tbe  winds,  and  which  sheds  a  hundred  tbou- 
sand  seeds  for  one  tbat  takes  root  and  comes  to 
maturity.    But  considering  the  supreme  impor- 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     277 

tance  of  the  work  of  the  Church,  it  would  per- 
haps be  well  if  some  ecclesiastical  engineer 
■would  investigate  the  causes  of  waste  and  teach 
us  how  to  utilize  every  available  footpound  of 
spirtual  energy. 

In  Brownson's  case,  it  is  probable  that  sus- 
picions as  to  the  entire  orthodoxy  of  his  peculiar 
philosophical  system  had  much  to  do  with  the 
coldness  of  many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  to- 
ward his  Review.     Of  late  years,  Brownson  has 
been  blamed  for  abandoning  temporarily,  under 
the    advice    of    Bishop    Fitzpatrick,    his    own 
philosophy  and  presenting  instead  the  claims  of 
Christianity  and  the  Church  on  the  traditional 
grounds  marked  out  for  many  centuries  by  the 
Fathers  and  Schoolmen.     But  in  his  otherwise 
admirable  work.  The  Convert,  Brownson  pro- 
claims not  only  the  similarity,  but  the  positive 
identity  of  his  system  of  the  origin  of  human 
ideas  with  that  of  the  Italian  Abbate,  Gioberti. 
This  latter  theory  under  the  name  of  Ontolo- 
gism,  was  afterward  condemned  by  the  Holy 
See.     Brownson  strenuously  denied  that  he  had 
ever  held  or  taught  the  propositions  cited  in  the 
papal  decree,  and  made  distinctions  to  uphold 
his  own  doctrine.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  teaching  of  the  Ontologists  to  the  effect  that 
in  every  act  of  intellectual  perception  we  know 
God,  at  least  implicitly,  as  the  primary  object, 
and  that  without  this  no  other  cognition  is  pos- 


278  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

sible,  was  very  attractive  to  men  of  idealistic 
and  religious  mind.  In  spite  of  Brownson's 
protests  and  distinctions,  Catholic  scholars  gen- 
erally felt  that  Bishop  Fitzpatrick's  caution  had 
been  fully  justified. 

Other  lay  converts  with  whom  Mr.  Richards 
came  in  contact  at  this  period  were  Dr.  Levi 
Silliman  Ives,  the  former  Protestant  Bishop  of 
North  Carolina;  Col.  James  Monroe  of  the  U. 
S.  Army;  John  A.  McMaster,  Editor  of  the  New 
York  Freeman's  Journal;  Benjamin  W. 
Whitcher,  Chandler  Berrian,  Dr.  Joshua  Hunt- 
ington, familiarly  known  as  the  Groper,  from 
his  little  work  Gropings  after  Truth;  Dr.  "Wil- 
liam H.  Iloyt,  and  many  others  in  a  constantly 
increasing  circle. 

Dr.  Ives'  dramatic  entrance  into  the  Church 
together  with  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Bishop 
Hobart,  has  been  detailed  in  a  preceding  chap- 
ter. He  was  a  most  dignified  and  accomplished 
gentleman  and  did  good  service  as  a  Catholic 
layman,  particularly  in  connection  with  the 
Catholic  Protectory,  of  which  he  was  the 
founder  and  the  first  President. 

For  Mr.  Hoyt,  a  peculiar  privilege  was  re- 
served. After  the  death  of  his  excellent  wife, 
he  undertook  studies  for  the  priesthood  and 
was  ordained  at  the  advanced  age  of  sixty-five. 

For  James  Roosevelt  Bayley,  then  Bishop  of 
Newark,  Mr.  Richards  felt  a  sincere  reverence 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     279 

and  admiration  as  well  as  gratitude.     The  good 
bishop's  encouragement  and  constant  kindness 
and  the  influence  which  he  exerted  in  the  new 
convert's  favor,  were  powerful  in  smoothing  the 
latter 's  path.    The  Rev.  George  Hobart  Doane, 
after  his  conversion  in  1855,  also  became  a  fast 
friend  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir.    Father 
(afterward  Monsig-nor)  Doane,  was  a  son  of  the 
Anglican  Bishop  of  New  Jersey,  George  W. 
Doane,  and  brother  of  the  present  Bishop  of 
Albany,  William  Crosswell  Doane.    As  Vicar 
General  and  Chancellor  of  the  diocese  of  New- 
ark, under  Bishop  Bayley,  and  as  Rector  of  the 
Cathedral  parish,  Monsignor  Doane  had  a  most 
useful  career  in  the  Church  of  his  adoption. 
The  rapidity  with  which  many  of  these  early 
converts  were  advanced  to  the  highest  posts  in 
the  Catholic  Church  is  worthy  of  note  as  an  in- 
dication that  no  trace  of  suspicion  or  narrow 
jealousy,  such  as  is  said  to  have  existed  to  some 
extent  among  the  old  Catholic  families  of  Eng- 
land, was  found  among  American  Catholics  in 
regard  to  their  new  brethren  in  the  faith.    In- 
stances were  James  Roosevelt  Bayley,  Bishop 
of  Newark  and  later  Archbishop  of  Baltimore, 
who  is  said  to  have  been  offered  the  Cardinal's 
hat  but  to  have  declined  it  in  favor  of  Arch- 
bishop McCloskey  of  New  York ;  Tyler  of  Hart- 
ford, Wadhams  of  Ogdensburg,  Wood  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  many  others. 


280  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

The  strongest  and  most  intimate  of  all  the 
friendships  formed  by  Mr.  Richards  with  con- 
verts was  with  Ferdinand  Elliott  White,  the 
former  Rector  of  St.  Luke's  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  in  New  York.    Mr.  "White  had  come 
into  the  true  fold  in  1851,  only  shortly  before 
Mr.  Richards.    After  a  similar  period  of  dis- 
tress and  anxiety  in  obtaining  a  bare  subsistence 
for  himself  and  his  family,  he  had  settled  down 
as  bookkeeper  for  a  firm  of  Catholic  merchants 
in  New  York,  and  had  taken  a  modest  dwelling 
in    Jersey    City.     He    was    a    mild-mannered, 
scholarly  man,  but  of  heroic  soul.     Devotedly 
fond  of  study  and  the  exercises  of  a  highly 
spiritual  religious  life,  he  must  have  felt  the 
drudgery  of  his  office  work  intensely  repulsive. 
But  he  performed  it  with  a  cheerful  and  serene 
fidelity  until  advancing  age  and  blindness  made 
it  impossible  for  him  to  guide  a  pen.     His  wife, 
a  saintly  woman,  his  two  sons  and  his  stepson 
had  followed  him  into  the  Church.     The  home 
life  of  this  admirable  Catholic  family  was  very 
attractive  to  Mr.  Richards,  and  a  strong  friend- 
ship   sprang   up    between    the    two    families, 
especially  the  boys,  which  was  a  benefit  to  both. 

During  this  period,  Mr.  Richards  was 
privileged  to  assist  in  an  humble  way  in  a  great 
work,  the  establishment  in  this  country  of  the 
Sisters  of  the  Poor  of  St.  Francis.  These  re- 
ligious were  brought  from  Germany  to  Cin- 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     281 

cinnati  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Peter,  a  noted  convert  of 
the  time  and  a  very  remarkable  person  from 
many  points  of  view.  Mrs.  Peter  was  a 
daughter  of  Governor  Thomas  Worthington  of 
Ohio,  and  during  her  father's  sojourn  in  Wash- 
ington was  distinguished  for  beauty  and  bril- 
liancy among  the  younger  women  in  society. 
Marrying  Edward  King,  and  after  his  death 
William  Peter,  British  Consul  at  Philadelphia, 
she  was  left  a  widow  a  second  time  with  an 
ample  fortune.  In  Rome,  she  was  converted 
to  the  Catholic  faith  and  was  admitted  to  fre- 
quent audiences  with  Pius  IX,  for  whom  she 
conceived  a  profound  veneration  and  enthu- 
siastic devotion.  From  this  time  she  devoted 
herself  with  ardor  to  the  service  of  God  and  of 
suffering  humanity  and  to  the  propagation  of 
the  Catholic  religion.  Her  efforts  were  en- 
couraged by  the  fatherly  Bishop  Purcell,  and  so 
active  did  she  become  in  good  works  for  the 
diocese  that  she  was  jestingly  known  as  the 
Auxiliary  Bishop  of  Cincinnati.  At  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Civil  War,  Mrs.  Peter  equipped 
a  hospital  boat  at  her  own  expense  and  went 
herself  to  care  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers.  In  addition  to  other  distinctively  reli- 
gious and  charitable  undertakings,  she  was  the 
chief  mover  in  the  organization  of  the  Cincin- 
nati Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  which  developed 
later  into  the  Art  Museum  of  that  city.    In  her 


282  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

frequent  visits  to  Rome,  slie  was  received  with 
the  greatest  consideration  by  Pius  IX.  On  one 
of  these  occasions,  in  1874,  when  some  great  re- 
ligious function  was  going  on  in  St.  Peter's, 
Mrs.  Peter,  then  an  okl  woman  leaning  on  a 
staff,  was  ushered  in  somewhat  late,  looking  in 
vain  for  a  seat.  The  Holy  Father  paused,  said 
with  a  smile  to  the  Cardinals  near  him:  Ecco 
nostra  cara  Signora  Peter!  and  beckoned  her  to 
a  place  near  himself.  On  another  occasion,  as 
the  procession  was  lea^4ng  the  sanctuary,  Mrs. 
Peter  dropped  her  cane  and  tried  in  vain  to 
reach  it.  The  Holy  Father  stopped,  raised  the 
staff  himself,  and  handed  it  to  its  owner,  saying 
gayly :  * '  Signora  Peter,  you  have  done  what  all 
Europe  has  failed  to  do.  You  have  stopped 
Pius  IX  in  his  career I"^ 

In  the  year  1858,  this  valiant  woman  con- 
sulted her  Bishop  and  the  Holy  Father  himself 
as  to  introducing  some  community  of  German 
sisters  for  the  service  of  the  sick  poor  of  Ger- 
man nationality  and  Irish  sisters  for  the  Irish 
poor.  With  their  approbation,  she  carried  out 
both  of  these  designs.  The  German  religious 
chosen  were  the  Sisters  of  the  Poor  of  St. 
Francis,  founded  at  Aachen  (Aix-la-Chapelle) 
in  1845  by  Mother  Frances  Schervier.  In  this 
Foundress,  wonderful  not  only  for  her  exalted 
spirituality,  her  faith  and  absolute  confidence  in 

2  Life  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Peter,  Vol.  II,  p.  544. 


NEW  FEIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     283 

God,  but  also  for  her  strong,  unalterable  com- 
non  sense,  Mrs.  Peter  found  a  ready  response 
to  her  own  resistless  energy.  A  first  colony,  of 
five  Sisters  and  one  Postulant,  set  out  for 
America  on  August  10th,  1858,  under  Sister 
Augustine  as  Superior  and  Sister  Felicitas  as 
Assistant.  The  latter  was  a  woman  of  high 
cultivation,  commanding  ability  and  engaging 
manners,  united  to  a  profound  and  tender  piety. 
Arriving  at  Cincinnati,  the  new  foundation  met 
many  difficulties  and  discouragements.  But 
these  were  happily  overcome,  and  new  colonies 
arrived  in  the  following  and  subsequent  years, 
while  vocations  began  to  develop  almost  im- 
mediately among  the  good  German  and  Irish 
girls  who  came  into  contact  with  the  sisters  in 
their  work  for  the  poor  and  suffering.  Mrs. 
Peter  had  learned  to  know  and  esteem  her  fel- 
low convert,  Henry  Eichards.  His  house  in 
Jersey  City  was  a  convenient  stopping  place  in 
her  frequent  journeys  to  and  from  Europe. 
Happening  to  be  there  one  Christmas  when  all 
the  children  of  the  neighborhood,  Protestant  as 
well  as  Catholic,  had  been  gathered  for  a  Christ- 
mas tree,  she  was  enlisted  to  tell  them  stories. 
It  was  no  little  evidence  of  the  power  of  her 
personality  to  see  a  great  crowd  of  children, 
only  a  moment  ago  romping  in  wild  excitement, 
now  oblivious  of  presents,  candies,  lights  and 
games,  listening  breathlessly,  under  the  spell 


284  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

of  that  leonine  countenance  and  musical  voice, 
as  she  told  them  of  her  adventures  in  the  great 
African  Desert  and  her  encounters  with  a  re- 
bellious dragoman  whom  she  threatened  with  an 
enormous  whip  from  the  back  of  a  camel. 

Mrs.  Peter  hastened  to  enlist  the  services  of 
her  friend  in  favor  of  her  sisters.  Of  their 
first  colonies  he  was  always  the  steadfast  friend 
and  devoted  assistant.  He  welcomed  them  at 
the  steamship  on  their  arrival,  conducted  them 
to  his  own  house,  attended  to  their  baggage, 
saw  that  their  goods  were  passed  through  the 
customs  house,  &c.  He  looked  upon  the  stay 
of  these  good  religious  in  his  house  as  the  visit 
of  angels.  The  eml)roidered  scapulars  and 
other  articles  of  devotion  which  the  religious 
sent  in  token  of  gratitude  were  treasured  with 
veneration  by  the  whole  family  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  scapulars  were  of  such  generous 
dimensions  that  the  children  irreverently  spoke 
of  them  as  ''chest  warmers." 

It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Richards'  admira- 
tion for  the  Sisters  and  their  work  led  him  to 
desire  their  presence  in  Jersey  City,  where  they 
were  greatly  needed  by  the  poor.  As  the  Pas- 
tor, Father  Senez,  concurred  in  this  desire,  for- 
mal application  for  a  foundation  was  made  to 
Sister  Felicitas  and  her  counselors  and  was 
favorably  received.  By  what  seems  to  have 
been  a  misunderstanding,  a  later  application 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     285 

from  the  neigliboring  city  of  Hoboken  was  acted 
upon  first.  Both  foundations,  however,  were 
happily  accomplished  and  the  two  hospitals  of 
St.  Mary  and  St.  Francis  have  long  been  centres 
of  grace  and  blessing,  both  temporal  and  spirit- 
ual, to  the  two  cities.  The  following  letters  will 
give  an  idea  of  Mr.  Richards'  correspondence 
with  Sister  Felicitas  and  the  religious  under 
her  charge.  The  good  Sister's  command  of  the 
English  langTiage  was  still  somewhat  imperfect ; 
but  both  her  ability  and  piety  are  evident. 

*'L.  J.  Ch. 

"Maeia  Hilf,  Nov.  12th,  1862. 

''To  Mr.  Richards. 

**My  dear  Sir:  Just  now  I  received  your 
dear  lines  and  I  hasten  to  give  the  desired  an- 
swer. We  feel  ashamed  at  your  and  Rev. 
Father  Senez's  benevolence  and  most  kind  in- 
terest for  us — as  our  insignificance  renders  us 
entirely  unworthy  of  it. 

*'We  are  ready  to  follow  your  kind  invitation 
to  Jersey  City  at  a  seasonable  time.  We  will 
accept  with  most  humble  gratitude  all  arrange- 
ments Rev.  Father  Senez  may  make  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  foundation,  and  it  would  be  super- 
fluous to  assure  you  of  my  agreeing  with  all  this, 
as  I  am  perfectly  convinced  of  your  good  un- 
derstanding of  the  spirit  of  our  Order,  and  as 
I  entertain  too  great  a  veneration  for  Rev. 


286  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Father  Senez's  enlightened  piety  and  wise  cir- 
cumspection. On  the  festival  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  five  postulants  will  be  admitted 
into  the  Novitiate,  so  that  their  assistance  here 
would  enable  us,  by  Christmas,  to  give  five  sis- 
ters for  the  new  establishment  in  Jersey.  As 
the  foundation  in  Jersey  City,  when  I  received 
Eev.  F.  Couvin's  letter,  was  still  appointed  to 
be  made  in  spring.  His  Reverence,  however, 
wishing  to  have  the  Sisters  even  during  winter, 
and  as  I  consider  both  the  foundations  as  one 
and  the  same,  according  to  the  opinion  I  gained 
on  the  subject  during  my  presence  in  Jersey 
City,  and  believing  you  to  be  guided  in  both 
by  the  same  interest,  I  gave  my  consent, 
through  Mrs.  S.  Peter,  to  supply  Hoboken,  if 
necessary,  even  in  the  course  of  winter,  direct- 
ing, however.  Rev.  F.  Couvin  to  Rev.  F.  Senez, 
— leaving  it  to  their  judgment  which  of  the  two 
foundations  should  be  the  first  one. 

' '  The  fact  is,  that  we  can  make  but  one  foun- 
dation before  spring,  and  can  be  ready  for  the 
second  towards  May,  June  or  July.  I  concluded 
from  Rev.  F.  Couvin's  explanation  about  Ho- 
boken that  there  the  number  of  poor  was  greater 
than  in  Jersey  and  therefore  perhaps  the  aid 
of  our  sisters  more  necessary  for  this  winter ; — 
however,  I  directed,  as  I  remarked.  Rev.  F. 
Couvin  to  you  and  Rev.  F.  Senez.  I  would  now 
most  humbly  request  you  to  be  kind  enough  to 


NEW  FEIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     287 

see  Eev.  F.  Senez  and  Eev.  F.  Couvin  about  the 
subject,  and  we  are  ready  to  comply  with  what- 
ever you  will  then  determine.  Perhaps  Rev. 
F.  Couvin  has  himself  deferred  the  matter  and 
besides  for  both  cases  the  moment  is  not  very  re- 
mote,— but  as  I  remarked,  we  could  give  sis- 
ters after  Christmas  for  the  first  colony. 

"I  perfectly  agree  with  Rev.  F.  Senez'  ar- 
rangements concerning  the  old  church  and  en- 
gaging the  other  house,  especially  as  I  would 
like  the  sisters  as  near  the  church  as  possible. 
As  soon  as  a  house  shall  be  acquired,  and  Rev. 
Father  Senez  permits  our  coming,  we  shall  be 
ready  to  follow,  quite  willing  to  undergo  the 
little  troubles  in  finding  means  to  provide  for 
the  little  we  want. 

"Finally  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  the 
written  consent  of  Right  Rev.  Bishop  of  Jersey, 
to  present  this  to  our  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  in 
order  to  obtain  his  episcopal  blessing  for  the 
new  foundation.  A  few  lines  of  the  approbation 
of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  would  be  sufficient. 
M.  R,  Archbishop  requested  this  procedure. 

"It  will  give  me  great  consolation,  my  dear 
Sir,  to  accompany  the  sisters  to  Jersey,  in  order 
to  participate,  a  short  time  at  least,  as  well  in 
the  little  pains  and  troubles  of  the  beginning, 
as  also  in  the  blessings  and  merits  of  the  good 
sisters.  My  unworthiness  does  not  allow  me  to 
enjoy  the  favor  for  a  longer  time.    Fiat  vol- 


288  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

iintas!  I  hope  confidently  that  the  burning 
siiirit  of  our  holy  seraphic  Father  will  accom- 
pany the  weak  and  insignificant  efforts  of  his 
poor  children  with  his  heavenly  blessings! 
This  consuming  spirit  of  our  glorious  Father, 
overflowing  with  compassionate  clemency,  shall 
animate  us  to  labor  with  redoubled  zeal  in  our 
holy  vocation  and  to  consecrate  all  our  faculties 
and  strength  to  the  service  of  the  suffering. 
That  glorious  patriarch  of  the  poor,  our  holy 
Father  himself,  will,  by  poor  and  weak  instru- 
ments,— the  more  capable,  as  they  are  more 
huml)le  and  low, — to  heal  with  the  oil  of  his  holy 
charity  the  wounds  of  those  poor  sufferers, 
and  then  bring  them  into  the  arms  of  that 
'Good  Shepherd'  and  'compassionate  Samar- 
itan'— into  those  clement,  wide-opened  arms, 
into  which  Plis  divine  heart  invites  all  those 
that  are  'burdened  and  heavily  laden.'  May 
the  most  loving  Heart  of  Jesus  replenish  you 
with  the  treasures  of  His  charity  and  grace, 
my  dear  Sir,  and  may  the  most  pure,  immaculate 
heart  of  the  virginal  mother  Mary  intercede  for 
you  in  this  intention. 

"Sending  my  most  humble  respects  to  our 
Rev.  Father  Senez, — and  praying  you  to  remem- 
ber us  to  your  dear  family,  I  am,  dear  Sir,  in  the 
Sacred  wounds  of  our  Divine  Sa\'ior, 

"Your  humble  servant, 
S.  Felicitas  of  St.  Francis. 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     289 

"Mrs.  Peter  sends  her  most  affectionate  re- 
gards to  you  and  your  family — " 

**St.  Mary's  Hospital  (Hoboken,  N.  J.) 

"L.J.  Ch.'' 
"Feast  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  1863. 
*'My  dear  Sir: 

"I  received  your  kind  letter  of  the  21st  of 
Dec,  in  return  for  which  I  trust  the  sweet  In- 
fant Jesus  will  have  visited  you  with  the  pleni- 
tude of  His  peace.  His  love  and  of  all  His  graces. 
I  prayed  for  you  in  this  intention  during  this 
holy  time,  and  God  grant  you  may  have  received 
a  copious  share  in  that  heavenly  peace,  which 
the  angels  promised  to  those  of  'a  good  will.' 
You  ought  to  have,  dear  Sir,  the  most  firm  con- 
fidence in  the  exceeding  great  charity  our  Lord 
bears  to  you,  for  I  am  convinced  that  this 
charity  is  the  cause  of  your  internal  aflBictions 
and  painful  struggles,  by  means  of  which  He 
will  humble,  purify  and  sanctify  our  souls. 
Proceed  then  in  good  faith,  and  with  a  most 
filial  confidence  in  that  road  which  God's  pater- 
nal love  has  pointed  out  for  you.  Never  let  us 
seek  anything  else  than  His  holy  ivill.  If  some- 
times, in  consequence  of  our  weakness  and  of  the 
blindness  of  our  poor  sinful  hearts,  our  eyes  are 
held  like  those  of  the  two  disciples  who  went  to 
Emmaus,  so  that  we  do  not  know  the  Lord,  who 
is  indeed  walking  with  us,  let  us  notwithstanding 


290  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

continue  to  seek  Him  and  to  trust  in  Him  like 
them :  '  Stay  with  us,  0  Lord,  because  it  is  to- 
wards evening  and  the  day  is  now  far  spent.' 
The  ways  of  this  life  are  rough  and  dark ;  some- 
times the  struggle  is  vehement;  but  the  Divine 
Infant,  Who  already  in  the  manger  begins  to 
atone  for  our  guilt  by  sutferings,  teaches  us  by 
His  holy  example,  courageously  to  enter  the  nar- 
row but  painful  path  that  leads  to  a  never  end- 
ing, blessed  life !  Oh,  let  us  manfully  strive  to 
join  one  day  that  blessed  multitude,  whom  our 
dear  holy  St.  John  saw  'ascending  from  the 
desert  of  this  life,  as  coming  out  of  great  tribu- 
lation, and  whose  robes  were  washed  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.'  May  this  sweet  Lamb  of 
God  in  the  crib  of  Bethlehem  and  His  immacu- 
late most  dear  Mother  bestow  this  greatest  of 
all  graces  upon  you  and  upon  us  all ! 

*'In  the  sacred  Hearts  of  Jesus  and  Mary, 
**  Your  devoted  Sister  in  Ch. 
**S.  Felicitas  of  St.  Francis. 

' '  N.  B,  In  regard  to  our  wishes  for  the  foun- 
dation in  Jersey  City,  I  think  we  have  to  wait 
patiently  till  it  joleases  our  Lord  lovingly  to  re- 
move all  the  obstacles,  small  and  great,  in  due 
season.  Please  accept  our  dear  Sister  Domin- 
ica's best  respects  and  love  and  my  own  to  you 
and  your  dear  family. 

"S.  F." 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     291 

It  may  be  in  place  here  to  give  an  outline  of 
Mr.  Richards '  method  of  life  at  this  period.  He 
rose  before  the  rest  of  the  family  every  morning 
and  spent  some  time,  generally  about  half  an 
hour,  in  meditation  and  mental  prayer.  He 
then  attended  mass  at  the  parish  church  in  com- 
pany with  his  wife.  On  his  return,  the  family 
having  been  gathered  together,  he  read  aloud 
some  passages  from  the  New  Testament,  at 
times  commenting  briefly  on  the  sense.  Family 
prayers  followed,  which  he  recited  with  great 
devotion,  all  responding.  Other  members  of 
the  family  were  encouraged,  but  not  obliged,  to 
hear  daily  mass.  His  communions  were  fre- 
quent and  fervent,  and  no  feast  days  of  any 
solemnity,  especially  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  were 
allowed  to  pass  without  being  sanctified  in  this 
way.  The  devotion  which  he  felt  on  these  oc- 
casions was  plainly  evidenced  in  his  rapt  coun- 
tenance, closed  eyes,  and  oftentimes  the  tears 
trickling  down  his  cheeks  during  his  preparation 
and  thanksgiving.  The  journey  to  his  office  iii 
New  York  was  always  made  on  foot  as  far  as 
the  ferry,  and  even  to  old  age  he  would  never 
ride  when  it  was  possible  to  walk.  He  walked 
with  a  rapid,  energetic  step  and  with  an  alert 
air.  Yet  no  one  who  saw  or  accompanied  him 
frequently  could  doubt  that  his  thoughts  were 
almost  constantly  fixed  on  God  and  spiritual 


292  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

things.  The  ferry  across  the  Hudson  was  one 
of  his  favorite  places  for  saying  the  beads. 
This  he  did  so  quietly,  with  his  hand  in  his 
pocket,  that  no  one  could  notice  it.  His  oftice- 
work  was  efficient  and  methodical  and  his  busi- 
ness letters  were  models  of  clearness  and  prac- 
tical wisdom.  His  cheery,  hearty  manner  and 
conversation,  which  was  not  without  an  oc- 
casional dash  of  humor,  endeared  him  to  his 
fellow  workers,  all  of  whom,  both  Protestant 
and  Catholic,  felt  for  him  a  hearty  liking, 
mingled  with  profound  respect.  He  took  a 
very  modest  lunch  at  his  desk.  On  fast  days, 
a  couple  of  graham  crackers  and  a  glass  of 
water  made  up  his  midday  collation.  On  Wed- 
nesdays and  Saturdays  he  abstained  from  flesh 
meat  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  On  the 
part  of  a  chronic  dyspeptic,  these  austerities 
were  plainly  imprudent  and  they  were  after- 
ward moderated  by  his  spiritual  director.  But 
he  always  retained  his  love  for  penance  and 
persevered  in  the  practice  of  little  mortifica- 
tions of  the  senses.  In  the  evening  after  dinner 
he  invariably  paid  a  visit  to  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment in  the  church.  The  remainder  of  the 
evening  was  spent  in  visiting  the  poor,  in  read- 
ing of  an  almost  exclusively  religious  character, 
correspondence,  and  writing  articles  of  an 
equally  religious  tone  for  the  public  prints. 
Gradually  this  last  work  absorbed  a  greater 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     293 

portion  of  Ms  time.  The  local  papers  not  in- 
frequently contained  attacks  npon  the  Church 
in  one  form  or  another.  This  was  especially 
the  case  with  one  of  these  sheets,  the  editor  of 
which  was  noted  for  bitter  prejudice.  The 
Know  Nothing  spirit,  though  defeated  and  dis- 
credited, was  still  vigorous  and  active  up  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War.  Mr.  Richards 
made  it  his  duty  to  take  up  all  of  the  more  ex- 
plicit and  violent  of  these  attacks  and  answer 
them  in  a  calm  but  forcible  style.  The  result 
was  a  change  of  tone  in  the  journals  of  the 
town,  which  became  notably  more  cautious 
and  respectful.  During  this  period,  Chevalier 
J.  V.  Hickey,  an  Irishman  of  marked  ability  and 
cultivation,  founded  the  Catholic  Review,  which 
for  many  years  held  its  place  as  the  leading 
Catholic  weekly  in  New  York.  Some  chance 
contributions  of  Mr.  Richards  proved  so  ac- 
ceptable that  he  was  encouraged  to  write  regu- 
larly for  the  editorial  columns.  Scarcely  a 
number  appeared  without  one  or  more  contri- 
butions from  his  pen.  This  labor  continued 
even  after  Mr.  Richards'  removal  to  Boston  in 
1868  and  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Hickey.  The 
subjects  chosen  were  generally  points  of  con- 
troversy between  the  Church  and  Protestant- 
ism, particularly  the  need  of  a  final  and  infal- 
lible authority  and  the  necessity  of  a  visible 
head  of  the  universal   Church.     He   adverted 


294  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

frequently  also  to  the  necessity  and  advantage 
of  religious  education  and  tlie  duty  of  the  State 
to  support  denominational  public  schools  by  a 
pro  rata  division  of  the  school  taxes.  Occa- 
sionally he  made  excursions  into  purely  devo- 
tional fields,  writing  with  a  simple  fervor  and 
unction  not  usually  found  even  in  religious 
periodicals. 

He  was  encouraged  from  time  to  time  by  in- 
dications that  his  words  were  not  TVithout  fruit. 
On  one  occasion,  a  Protestant  gentleman  and 
his  wife,  finding  the  Review  by  chance  on  a  New 
York  newstand,  were  deeply  impressed  by  one 
of  Mr.  Richards'  editorials,  which  answered 
precisely  their  intellectual  and  spiritual  needs 
at  the  moment.  They  wrote  to  ascertain  the 
author  of  the  article  and  after  some  correspond- 
ence entered  the  Church. 

As  may  be  inferred  from  what  has  been  said, 
Mr.  Richards  was  a  firm  believer  in  regular 
order  and  strict  discipline  in  the  family  circle. 
All  were  obliged  to  observe  a  fixed  hour  for 
rising  and  to  take  part  in  the  family  devotions. 
Up  to  the  age  of  twelve  or  more,  the  children 
were  obliged  to  go  to  rest  at  half  past  eight  in 
the  evening,  except  on  extraordinary  occasions, 
and  no  tears  or  expostulations  could  gain  an 
exemption  from  the  rule.  Even  when  they  were 
approaching  adult  age,  they  were  expected  not 
to  go  out  without  letting  their  parents  know 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     295 

whither  they  were  going  and  with  what  com- 
panions. During  the  period  of  childhood  they 
were  subject  to  corporal  punishment  for  any 
flagrant  fault,  even  of  negligence.  But  he  never 
punished  without  giving  a  serious  lecture 
beforehand,  in  which  the  fault  was  made  so 
plain  that  the  culprit  rather  welcomed  the  whip- 
ping. Early  in  his  married  life,  he  was  some- 
what too  exacting  with  his  children  and  re- 
proved them  too  severely  and  minutely.  But 
he  was  taught  the  unwisdom  of  this  by  his  own 
observation  and  the  gentle  admonitions  of  his 
devoted  wife,  who,  while  she  both  loved  and 
reverenced  her  partner  profoundly,  was  yet  not 
blind  to  his  faults  of  temperament.  He  learned 
not  to  expect  absolute  perfection.  For  the  rest, 
his  exact  justice,  his  control  over  himself  so 
that  he  never  corrected  in  anger,  and  the  affec- 
tion that  shone  even  in  his  most  earnest  repre- 
hensions, relieved  his  discipline  of  all  bitterness. 
Mr.  Richards'  advocacy  of  religious  education 
did  not  stop  at  theory.  He  had  no  sympathy 
with  those  Catholics,  whether  converts  or  not, 
who  bring  their  social  ambition  and  exclusive 
prejudices  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  who 
always  find  plausible  reasons  for  depri^dng 
their  children  of  the  inestimable  benefit  of  a 
Catholic  education.  For  a  time  he  was  himself 
obliged  by  the  pressure  of  circumstances  to 
send  several  of  his  children  to  neutral  schools. 


296  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

private  and  public.  But  this  he  did  only  with 
the  formal  concurrence  of  his  pastor  and  only 
for  such  a  period  as  was  absolutely  necessary. 
Thereafter  all  were  sent  to  Catholic  colleges 
and  convents,  the  two  older  boys  to  Seton  Hall 
and  the  youngest  to  Boston  College,  while  the 
daughters  were  educated  respectively  at  Man- 
hattanville  and  Kenwood.  Meantime,  he  took 
the  greatest  care  personally  of  their  religious 
training,  in  order  to  make  up  for  any  deficiency 
in  the  school.  The  boys  were  in  his  own  class 
in  the  Sunday  School,  where  they  enjoyed  no 
privilege,  except  jierhaps  to  be  held  more 
strictly  to  the  standard  in  lessons  and  conduct 
than  the  other  pupils.  At  home,  he  frequently 
called  the  cliildren  around  him  on  Sunday  after- 
noon or  evening  and  gave  them  instructions  and 
exhortations  on  the  virtues  and  vices,  as  well 
as  the  most  controverted  doctrines  of  the 
church.  In  these  little  gatherings,  not  only  his 
own  children  took  part,  but  also  at  times  their 
playmates,  even  of  non-Catholic  families,  and 
all  listened  with  the  most  intense  interest.  He 
did  not  hesitate  to  speak  plainly  to  the  boys 
about  the  dangers  to  their  morals  as  well  as 
their  faith  which  they  were  likely  to  meet  in 
their  daily  lives  and  associations. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  Mr.  Richards' 
residence  in  Jersey  City,  the  great  political 
struggle  was  going  on  between  the  Northern 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     297 

and  Southern  States  wliicli  finally  culminated 
in  the  Civil  War.  For  him,  this  was  a  period 
of  anxiety  and  suffering.  He  could  not  sym- 
pathize unreservedly  with  either  side.  After 
his  conversion,  he  had  become  a  Democrat  in 
politics,  thinking  the  principles  of  that  party 
more  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  Catholic 
Church  than  those  of  its  rival,  the  Republican 
party,  though  he  did  not  disguise  the  fact  that 
on  the  dissolution  of  the  Native  American  or- 
ganization, many  of  its  most  bitter  adherents 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  Democratic  camp. 
He  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  rights  of  the 
individual  States  and  was  even  inclined  to 
State  Sovereignty  and  the  theoretical  power 
of  seceding  from  the  Union  in  case  of  irrecon- 
cilable disagreement.  He  deplored  the  violence 
of  the  extreme  Abolitionist  faction  of  the  North 
and  their  heated  advocacy  of  the  immediate 
and  forcible  freeing  of  the  slaves,  likely  to  re- 
sult in  such  sanguinary  uprisings  as  that  which 
accompanied  John  Brown's  invasion  of  Vir- 
ginia. With  all  good  men,  he  condemned  the 
evils  of  slavery  and  longed  not  only  for  their 
abatement  but  for  the  complete  extirpation  of 
that  unchristian  institution.  But  he  was 
strongly  of  opinion  that  this  end  could  best  be 
gained  by  gradual  means  and  with  due  com- 
pensation by  the  States  to  slaveholders.  He 
maintained  that  the  best  interests  of  the  colored 


298  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

race  itself  would  be  subserved  by  such  a  gradual 
emancipation,  with  an  accompanying  education 
for  the  duties  of  life  and  the  responsibilities  of 
citizenship.  He  dreaded  the  effects  of  suddenly 
setting  adrift  three  millions  of  grown  children, 
entirely  illiterate  and  accustomed  to  depend- 
ence. Moreover,  his  residence  in  the  South, 
and  particularly  in  New  Orleans,  had  taught 
him  that  large  numbers  of  the  slaves  were  well 
treated  and  apparently  happy,  and  that  their 
physical  welfare  at  least  was  in  most  cases 
ke])t  in  view  by  their  masters,  if  only  through 
self-interest.  "While  in  itself  slavery  undoubt- 
edlv  does  tend  stronglv  to  the  destruction  of  all 
morality,  still  in  an  immense  number  of  cases, 
especially  in  Catholic  families,  this  tendency 
was  checked  by  careful  religious  and  moral  in- 
struction. He  had  seen  masters  and  slaves 
living  in  the  most  kindly  and  even  affectionate 
relations,  as  members  of  one  family.  He  real- 
ized by  actual  observation  that  the  gi'oss  abuses 
depicted  in  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  and  other 
lurid  Abolition  literature  were  not  the  rule,  and 
that  there  were  other  masters  and  overseers 
beside  those  who  plied  the  whip  and  tore  hus- 
band from  wife  and  children  from  parents. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  was  far  from  condon- 
ing these  abuses.  The  arrogant  vaporing  of 
the  fire-eating  orators  of  the  South  was  no  less 
odious  to  him  than  the  fanatical  appeals  of  the 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABOES     299 

extreme  Abolitionists  of  the  North.  He  saw 
in  secession  the  prelude  to  disintegration  and 
anarchy.  He  believed  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
express  his  belief,  that  the  nation  was  being 
hurried  into  the  horrors  of  civil  war  by  reckless 
demagogues  and  selfish  politicians  on  both  sides. 
These  views  did  not  tend  to  make  Mr.  Richards 
and  those  who  thought  with  him  more  popular 
among  their  fellow  citizens  of  more  violent,  or 
as  they  considered,  more  patriotic  sentiments. 
The  Democrats  who  sympathized  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  with  the  South  had,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  troubles,  worn  a  badge  consisting 
of  the  head  of  the  goddess  of  Liberty,  cut  from 
the  large  copper  cents  then  in  use  and  fitted 
with  a  pin.  This  gained  them  the  nickname  of 
''Copperheads,"  which  was  soon  interpreted  by 
their  enemies  as  a  reference  to  the  copperhead 
snake,  one  of  the  most  venomous  of  American 
reptiles.  When  actual  hostilities  broke  out 
with  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter  in 
Charleston  harbor  in  April,  1861,  the  North 
burst  into  a  flame  of  indignation  and  patriotic 
fervor,  and  those  suspected  rightly  or  wrongly 
of  undue  sympathy  for  the  enemies  of  the  Union 
became  the  objects  of  that  odium  which  falls 
upon  moderate  and  prudent  men  at  times  of 
great  excitement.  But  Mr.  Richards  stood  his 
ground  firmly.  His  two  elder  boys,  especially 
William,    were    anxious    to    accompany    their 


300  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

cousins,  the  Hillyers,  to  the  field  of  battle.  But 
their  father  refused  positively  to  allow  them  to 
enlist,  and  his  will  prevailed. 

Henry's  brother,  William,  who  had  followed 
him  into  the  Church,  was  of  precisely  opposite 
opinions  in  political  matters.  He  was  as  sure 
that  the  Eepublican  was  the  only  party  for  a 
Catholic  as  his  elder  brother  was  of  the  con- 
trary. On  the  accession  of  Lincoln's  adminis- 
tration, William  had  given  up  his  law  and 
journalism  in  Iowa  and  had  taken  a  government 
position  in  the  Internal  Revenue  department. 
Naturally  of  a  somewhat  more  vehement  dis- 
position than  Henry,  he  advocated  the  entire 
Nortliem  position  with  great  vigor  and  ability. 
During  his  occasional  visits  to  Jersey  City,  dis- 
putes became  very  warm,  and  this  was  still 
more  the  case  when  William's  side  was  re- 
enforced  by  John  Adair  McDowell,  brother-in- 
law  of  Mrs.  Richards,  to  whom  allusion  has  been 
made  in  a  preceding  chapter.  Mr.  McDowell 
had  organized  a  regiment  of  volunteers  in  Iowa, 
of  which  he  was  given  command  as  Colonel. 
The  three  men  argued  often  and  long,  sometimes 
far  into  the  night.  Yet  the  warmth  of  their 
contention  never  affected  for  a  moment  the  cor- 
diality and  affectionate  character  of  their  or- 
dinary intercourse. 

When  some  of  the  Confederate  raids  into 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  seemed  to  portend 


NEW  FRIENDSHIPS  AND  LABORS     301 

a  coming  invasion  of  the  North,  a  military  com- 
pany, composed  of  gentlemen  who  were  exempt 
from  the  conscription  or  had  escaped  it,  was 
organized  in  Mr.  Richards'  neighborhood  in 
Jersey  City,  nnder  the  name  of  the  Pavonia 
Home  Guards.  His  partial  sympathy  with  the 
South  did  not  lorevent  his  enrolling  himself, 
under  the  leadership  of  his  friend,  Capt.  Charles 
H.  O'Neill,  in  this  organization  for  the  protec- 
tion of  home  and  country.  The  existence  of 
the  company  was  shortlived,  as  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  put  an  end  to  all  danger  of  invasion. 
Its  chief  utility,  besides  a  sense  of  security 
which  it  may  have  produced,  was  to  amuse  the 
small  boys  of  the  neighborhood,  who  looked  on 
with  intense  delight  at  the  middle-aged  and 
elderly  gentlemen  marching  and  countermarch- 
ing and  discharging  furious  volleys  from  an- 
tique muskets  at  imaginary  foes. 


CHAPTER  XI 

BOSTON 

1868—1878 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1868,  a  change 
occurred  which  resulted  in  the  removal  of  Mr. 
Eichards  to  Boston  and  affected  in  various 
ways  the  future  of  himself  and  his  family.  The 
English  firm  of  steel  manufacturers,  in  whose 
New  York  oflice  he  was  employed,  appointed 
Mr.  Richards  their  New  England  agent.  He 
went  on  immediately  and  hegan  energetically 
the  reorganization  of  the  business.  After  a 
few  months  he  was  joined  by  the  members  of 
his  family,  except  his  second  son  William,  who 
remained  for  some  time  longer  in  New  York. 
During  the  short  period  of  separation,  Mr. 
Richards'  loneliness  was  relieved  by  the  kind- 
ness of  a  warm-hearted  Catholic  family,  that  of 
Mr.  Arthur  McAvoy,  his  first  Catholic  acquaint- 
ance in  Boston.  He  took  up  his  quarters  not 
far  from  the  Immaculate  Conception  Church  in 
the  South  End.  His  delight  in  the  stately  and 
complete  services  in  this  great  church  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  and  his  ardor  in  availing  him- 

302 


BOSTON  303 

self  of  the  religious  advantages  it  offered  were 
almost  childlike.  Every  morning  saw  him  at 
Mass  and  every  evening  at  Benediction.  His 
feelings  for  this  new  home  of  his  soul  are  ex- 
pressed in  his  letters  to  his  wife : 

'' Gloria  in  Excelsis  Deo! 

"Christmas. 
''Boston,  Dec.  25th,  1868. 
"My  dear  Wife: 

"Another  Christmas  has  come  and  gone  and 
we  have  been  compelled  to  celebrate  it  apart 
from  each  other.  That  has  been  the  only  draw- 
back on  the  pleasure  of  the  day.  We  have  had 
a  magnificent  celebration  here  to-day;  equal,  I 
think  in  some  ways  superior,  to  anything  I  have 
ever  witnessed.  I  thought  of  friend  White's 
question  in  his  last  letter:  'When  are  you 
going  to  make  your  pilgrimage  to  the  other 
churches?'  In  fact,  the  services  at  our  church 
are  so  attractive  that  I  have  no  disposition  to 
go  anywhere  else.  Of  course  I  shall  find  my 
way  gradually  to  the  other  churches,  but  merely 
to  gratify  (not,  I  hope,  an  idle)  curiosity,  not 
to  find  a  Jiome.  And  my  greatest  desire  now 
is  to  have  you  all  with  me  in  this  exceedingly 
interesting  and  pleasant  home.  What  a  mag- 
nificent day  we  have  had !  (By  the  way,  I  used 
that  expression  once  before,  but  no  matter.  I 
think  the  subject  will  justify  the  repetition.) 


304  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Everything  was  absolutely  superb,  except  per- 
haps the  decorations  which  were  good  but  in 
point  of  taste  hardly  superb.  But  the  music 
and  the  ceremonies !  Well,  if  they  did  not  ele- 
vate the  hearts  of  the  people  to-day,  those 
hearts  must  have  been  very  heavy,  very  gross, 
very  worldly. 


n 


The  newcomer  soon  became  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  Fathers  then  constituting  the  staff 
of  the  church.  Father  John  Bapst,  who  some 
years  before  had  been  tarred  and  feathered  for 
the  Faith  bv  a  fanatical  mob  at  Elsworth, 
Maine,  was  then  Rector  of  Boston  College  and 
''The  Immaculate,"  as  the  church  was,  and  is 
familiarly  called.  He  was  a  big,  simple-minded 
Swiss,  whose  robust  frame  and  noble  counte- 
nance made  his  extreme  gentleness  and  fatherly 
kindness  more  remarkable.  In  charge  of  the 
College,  with  the  title  of  Prefect  of  Studies, 
but  virtually  in  supreme  control,  was  Father 
Robert  Fulton,  a  ^'irginian,  a  genius,  an  in- 
fatuated lover  of  the  classics,  a  witty  and  bril- 
liant conversationalist,  and  yet  an  energetic  and 
powerful  administrator.  Under  his  guidance, 
Boston  College,  oi^ened  only  a  few  years  before, 
in  18C-1:,  and  destitute  of  means,  was  already  be- 
ginning to  make  itself  felt  in  the  educational 
world  and  to  confer  on  the  Catholic  community 
of  Boston  those  benefits  of  cultivation  and  re- 


BOSTON.  305 

finement  wMcli  it  has  continued  in  subsequent 
years  to  bestow  and  which  have  made  it  prob- 
ably the  most  important  single  agency  in 
elevating  the  mind  and  manners  of  that  com- 
munity. Father  Fulton  used  to  say  that  the 
advent  of  Boston  College  was  marked,  in  many 
of  the  Catholic  families  of  the  city,  by  a  line 
as  visible  as  a  geological  stratum.  The  boys 
who  were  too  old  to  enter  the  new  institution 
were  in  many  cases  comparatively  rude  and  un- 
cultured and  engaged  in  more  or  less  menial 
occupations,  while  their  younger  brothers  were 
polished  and  ambitious  of  professional  educa- 
tion and  success.  In  Father  Fulton's  room, 
some  of  the  Catholic  gentlemen  of  Boston  were 
accustomed  to  gather  on  Sunday  afternoons  or 
evenings  to  enjoy  his  talk,  sparkling  with  wit, 
epigram  and  literary  allusion,  yet  permeated 
with  a  kindly  humor  and  a  sincere  though  in- 
formal piety.  Into  this  charmed  circle,  Mr. 
Eichards  and  his  eldest  son,  Harry,  after  the 
latter 's  advent,  were  at  once  received.  Harry, 
who  himself  possessed  many  of  Father  Fulton's 
qualities,  among  them  a  no  less  keen  sense  of 
humor  and  an  even  greater  power  of  saying 
amusing  things  without  a  sting,  was  an  espe- 
cially welcome  and  devoted  attendant. 

The  other  Fathers  were  Edward  Holker 
Welch,  a  convert  of  an  old  Boston  family  and 
a  bosom  friend  of  the  angelic  Henry  Coolidge 


306  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Shaw,  who  preceded  him  into  the  Society; 
Father  Alexander  Hitzelberger,  a  Virginian, 
most  amiable,  fatherly  and  spiritual  in  his  ways, 
who  had  suffered  imprisonment  for  fidelity  to 
the  seal  of  confession;  and  Father  Alphonse 
Charlier,  a  Belgian,  who  still  survives  as  the 
patriarch  of  *'The  Immaculate,"  surrounded 
by  the  intense  veneration  and  affection  of  the 
people,  particularly  of  the  poor.  A  more 
worthy,  distinguished,  and  altogether  lovable 
community  of  priests  and  religious  it  would  be 
difTicult  to  imagine.  On  their  part,  the  Fathers 
were  not  slow  to  appreciate  the  good  qualities 
of  their  new  friend  and  they  soon  employed  his 
leisure  hours  in  the  various  religious  activities 
of  a  great  church.  In  the  Sunday  School,  of 
which  Mr.  William  S.  Pelletier  was  the  devoted 
Superintendent,  Mr.  Richards  was  given  the 
Perseverance  Class  of  boys,  comprising  some 
forty  or  fifty  members,  ranging  from  fifteen  to 
eighteen  years  of  age.  In  this  work,  he  found 
it  necessary  to  amplify  to  some  extent  his 
methods  of  instruction.  He  was  a  firm  believer 
in  the  catechetical  method,  the  ^'form  of  sound 
words"  to  be  committed  to  memory,  the  "line 
upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept."  But  he 
explained  carefully  and  exacted  an  account  of 
his  explanations  in  the  pupil's  own  words;  he 
illustrated  with  anecdote  and  example,  pro- 
posed difficulties,  and  used  every  means  to  make 


BOSTON  307 

the  class  bright,  interesting  and  practical.  The 
Perseverance  Class,  as  he  received  it,  was  diffi- 
cult to  interest  and  control,  and  for  a  time  he 
was  discouraged.  But  he  hit  upon  the  plan  of 
writing  out  at  home  upon  strips  of  paper  ques- 
tions relating  to  various  subjects  occurring  in 
the  day's  lesson.  Each  of  these  was  given  to 
some  particular  pupil,  who  was  expected  to  read 
up  the  subject  from  any  available  source  and  to 
give  an  account  or  explanation  at  the  next  Sun- 
day's class.  The  success  of  this  device  was 
very  marked.  Moreover  it  afforded  the  teacher 
many  opportunities  to  discuss  objections 
against  faith  which  the  boys  were  sure  to  meet 
in  after  life  and  to  introduce  instruction  on 
moral  conduct.  Here,  as  in  his  own  family,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  speak  to  the  boys  plainly  and 
earnestly  of  dangers  to  their  morals  and  of  the 
snares  of  bad  companions,  subjects  which  are 
too  often  passed  over  in  silence  by  instructors. 
His  students  entertained  throughout  life  un- 
bounded veneration  and  affection  for  their 
teacher,  and  the  writer  of  these  lines  has  been 
told  by  more  than  one  now  in  the  priesthood 
that  they  attributed  their  vocation  and  above 
all  the  preservation  of  their  chastity  unspotted 
amid  the  temptations  of  youth  in  a  large  city 
to  his  timely  warnings  and  wholesome  counsels 
in  the  Class  of  Perseverance. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Catholics  of  Bos- 


308  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

ton  began  to  realize  that  a  new  force  had  been 
added  to  their  commimity.  Modest  and  retir- 
ing as  the  new  arrival  was,  his  zeal  and  enthusi- 
asm were  so  ardent  that  he  conld  not  resist 
undertaking  any  work  for  God  and  religion 
which  presented  itself.  This  was  seen  for  in- 
stance in  his  controversial  paragraphs  in  the 
secular  press.  At  that  time  the  newspapers  of 
Boston  still  indulged  in  frequent  slurs  and  at- 
tacks upon  the  Catholic  Church,  a  relic  of  the 
old  Puritan  prejudice  and  bitterness  which  has 
not  yet  entirely  disappeared.  These  attacks 
generally  wont  unanswered.  Mr.  Richards  be- 
gan to  reply  to  them  in  a  courteous  but  vigor- 
ous fashion,  denianding  from  the  editors  the 
fairness  of  a  hearing.  One  of  the  leading  even- 
ing papers  had  been  a  frequent  offender,  but 
when  Mr.  Kicliards  sent  it  a  brief  reply,  printed 
the  letter  without  comment.  Some  time  after, 
another  slur  upon  the  Church  from  some  cor- 
respondent having  appeared  in  its  columns,  Mr. 
Samuel  Tuckerman,  an  ardent  convert,  encour- 
aged by  his  friend's  exami)le,  wrote  a  rejoinder. 
But  he  waited  in  vain  for  his  communication  to 
be  printed,  and  finally  called  upon  the  editor 
in  person.  ''Mr.  Tuckerman,"  said  the  latter, 
'*I  regret  deeply  the  appearance  of  that  attack 
in  our  columns.  It  slipped  in  without  my 
knowledge.  Had  it  come  to  my  attention,  I  cer- 
tainly would  have  excluded  it.     But  as  to  print- 


BOSTON  309 

ing  an  answer,  let  me  show  you  the  result  of 
Mr.  Richards '  paragraph  some  little  time  ago, ' ' 
Here  he  took  from  a  pigeonhole  a  great  bundle 
of  letters,  all  written  in  a  violent  tone,  directing 
the  editor  to  drop  the  writers'  subscription, 
asking  how  long  it  was  since  his  paper  had  be- 
come a  papistical  sheet,  &c. 

In  spite  of  such  difficulties,  the  war  was  kept 
up  until  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  a  very 
decided  change  of  tone  in  regard  to  the  Church 
became  evident  in  the  leading  papers  of  the  city. 

It  was  not  merely  in  controversy  that  Mr. 
Richards'  pen  found  employment.  One  little 
article  in  the  Pilot  on  ''Our  Model  Organist" 
made  quite  a  stir  among  the  musically  inclined 
members  of  the  congregation  of  the  Immaculate. 
Dr.  John  H.  Willcox  was  then  Choirmaster  and 
Organist  of  that  church.  The  volunteer  choir 
had  been  brought  by  him  to  a  high  state  of  per- 
fection, and  the  eldest  daughter  and  son  of  Mr. 
Richards  had  joined  its  ranks  soon  after  coming 
to  Boston.  Dr.  Willcox  was  a  convert,  person- 
ally a  most  lovable  though  somewhat  nervous 
and  erratic  man,  and  musically  a  genius  of  a 
very  high  order.  His  improvisations,  espe- 
cially, were  most  extraordinary  and  delightful, 
seeming  to  introduce  one  to  a  higher  world  of 
angelic  melody  and  heavenly  harmony.  Yet 
he  would  occasionally  admit  into  his  accompani- 
ments  or   interludes   characteristics   which   to 


310  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Mr.  Richards'  more  severe  and  liturgical  taste 
seemed  not  altogether  suited  to  the  house  of 
God  and  the  tremendous  sacrifice.  He  there- 
fore ventured  to  write  the  little  article  above 
alluded  to,  in  which  he  sketched  an  ideal  Cath- 
olic organist,  praising  him  particularly  for  the 
absence  of  those  faults  which  were  really  pres- 
ent in  Dr.  Willcox.  No  names  were  mentioned, 
but  everyone  saw  the  application.  The  Doctor 
himself  seemed  to  doubt  whether  the  article 
were  bona  fide  praise  of  himself  or  a  satire. 
Others  were  not  so  much  in  the  dark  and  while 
enjoying  the  delicate  irony  of  the  criticism, 
speculated  as  to  its  author.  Many  attributed  it 
to  Mr.  Patrick  Powers,  the  bass  soloist,  later  in 
life  the  President  of  the  Emerson  Piano  Com- 
pany. But  the  real  authorship  was  never 
divulged. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Richards'  arrival  in  Bos- 
ton, an  event  occurred  that  gave  him  unbounded 
consolation  and  cemented  a  most  tender  friend- 
ship that  was  to  endure  for  life.  This  was  the 
reception  into  the  Church  of  Dr.  James  Kent 
Stone.  Mr.  Richards  had  known  Dr.  Stone  for 
a  few  years  and  had  exercised  great  influence  in 
his  conversion.  During  one  of  his  business 
tours  in  the  West,  he  had  taken  the  opportunity 
to  visit  his  old  college,  Kenyon,  at  Gambler, 
Ohio.  There  he  found  Stone  as  President,  a 
handsome  young  clergj^man  of  athletic  frame, 


BOSTON  311 

spiritual  aspect  and  charming,  buoyant  man- 
ner. The  two  men,  much  alike  in  character,  in 
spite  of  the  disparity  of  age,  took  to  each  other 
at  once.  The  young  President  had  advanced 
far  on  the  road  to  Catholicity  and  was  having 
difficulty  with  the  Trustees  on  account  of  his 
High  Church  tendencies,  as  Bishop  Chase  had 
so  many  years  before.  At  this  time.  Dr.  Stone 
seemed  to  hold  to  the  theory  of  an  ancient  Brit- 
ish Church,  independent  of  Rome,  of  which  he 
made  the  Established  Church  of  England  and 
her  daughter,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  America,  legitimate  heirs.  On  returning 
home,  Mr.  Richards  sent  his  new  friend  Father 
Waterw^orth's  England  and  Rome,  and  sug- 
gested to  Father  Hecker  to  send  the  Catholic 
World  regularly  to  Bexley  Hall,  the  Kenyon 
divinity  school.  Stone's  convictions,  already 
no  doubt  somewhat  disturbed,  were  still  further 
shaken  by  the  light  thus  received.  The  opposi- 
tion of  the  Trustees  became  so  acute  that  he  was 
compelled  to  resign  his  position.  Although  the 
Board  finally  relented,  on  account  apparently 
of  his  great  personal  popularity,  and  urged  him 
to  stay,  he  insisted  on  carrying  out  his  intention 
and  accepted  an  invitation  to  assume  the  presi- 
dency of  Hobart  College,  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  where 
the  traditions  from  the  time  of  the  High  Church 
Bishop  Hobart  of  New  York  had  been  much 
more  in  accord  with  his  views  than  those  of 


312  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Low  Church  Kenvon.  Here  Dr.  Stone  devoted 
all  his  leisure  hours  for  a  year  to  the  study  of 
the  early  Fathers  of  the  Church.  Meantime 
Mr.  Eichards  watched  his  progress  closely, 
sending  him  from  time  to  time  such  books  as 
he  thought  suited  to  his  stage  of  development, 
Newman's  Loss  and  Gain  among  the  number. 
He  not  only  prayed  himself  incessantly  but 
enlisted  his  family  and  friends  and  various 
religious  communities  in  besieging  Heaven  for 
the  favorable  outcome  of  the  struggle.  At  the 
close  of  the  year,  Dr.  Stone  was  thoroughly  con- 
vinced that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the 
present  day,  and  she  alone,  was  absolutely  iden- 
tical with  the  Church  of  the  Gospels  and  the 
early  centuries.  This  conclusion  reached,  he 
promptly  severed  his  connection  with  Hobart 
and  retired  to  Madison,  New  Jersey,  there,  like 
St.  Paul  in  Arabia,  to  be  alone  with  God.  The 
result  is  told  in  the  following  letter: 

''Madison,  N.  J.,  Dec.  12, 1869. 
*'My  dear  Mr.  Richards: 

"You  who  from  the  first  have  so  faithfully 
watched  my  slow  progress  into  the  Catholic 
Church,  will,  I  know,  be  glad  to  learn  that  I 
am  safe  home  at  last.  Deo  gratias!  On  Wed- 
nesday last,  the  blessed  Feast  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  I  was  received  into  the  Church 
by  Father  Wigger.     Immediately  after  my  re- 


BOSTON  313 

ception  I  went  to  tlie  Passionist  Monastery  in 
West  Hoboken  for  a  short  retreat,  made  my 
first  Confession  and  also  received  Holy  Com- 
munion yesterday  morning'.  I  hope  to  spend 
Christmas  Day  in  Brookline.  ...  If  I  find  time, 
I  will  attend  High  Mass  at  the  Church  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  and  have  a  shake  of  the 
hand  afterwards  if  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  find 
you  there.  Can  you  drop  me  a  line  to  let  me 
know  at  what  hour  they  will  say  High  Mass  on 
Christmas  Day — and  also  the  number  of  your 
pew! 

*^I  shall  probably  remain  in  Madison  until 
Spring.  Since  you  were  here  I  have  done 
scarcely  anything  at  all  upon  the  unfortunate 
book  about  which  you  are  doubtless  tired  of 
hearing.  Moreover,  I  have  quite  remodeled 
my  plan  in  regard  to  its  composition.  So  that 
in  order  to  publish  (which  I  have  now  pretty 
much  determined  to  do)  I  shall  have  to  keep 
hard  at  work  through  the  winter.  Do  not  think 
I  have  forgotten  you  because  I  have  been  so 
silent,  for  I  have  remembered  you  daily  in  the 
way  you  could  most  desire. 

''Yours  ever  faithfully  in  the  church — (oh! 
blessed  thought!) 

''James  Kent  Stone." 

The  "unfortunate  book"  is,  of  course,  The 
Invitation  Heeded,  an  incomparable  work  which 


314  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

has  led  to  the  Church  in  America  almost  as 
many  souls  as  it  contains  words. 

The  friendship  thus  happily  hegun  between 
the  two  men  grew  even  more  close  and  devoted, 
and,  on  Mr.  Eichards'  part,  reverential,  when 
Dr.  Stone  was  ordained  priest  in  the  Congre- 
gation of  St.  Paul  and  afterward  became  a 
religious  of  the  Passionist  Order. 

Dr.  Stone's  career  as  Father  Fidelis  of  the 
Cross  and  the  immense  services  he  has  ren- 
dered, and  is  at  this  writing  still  rendering,  to 
his  order  and  the  entire  Church  in  both  North 
and  South  .tVmerica,  do  not  enter  into  the  scope 
of  this  biography,  nor  does  a  due  respect  for 
his  modesty  allow  of  their  insertion  here.  But 
we  may  be  permitted  to  print  some  letters  that 
will  illustrate  the  character  of  his  correspond- 
ence with  his  loved  and  venerated  Father  in 
Christ.  The  following,  addressed  to  the  writer 
of  these  lines,  will  serve  as  an  introduction  to 
the  series: 

**St.  Michael's  Passionist  Monastery, 
"West  IIoboken,  N.  J.,  Sept.  5,  1906. 
**Rev.  Jos.  Havens  Richards,  S.  J. 

*'My  dear  Father  Havens:  Gladly  will  I  do 
what  I  can  in  reply  to  your  kind  and  touching 
letter  of  the  lith  ult.  I  have  already  expressed 
to  your  brother  Will  my  great  regret  that  I 
have  not  preserved  your  dear  father's  beautiful 


BOSTON  315 

letters,  that  I  might  present  them  to  you.  It 
seems  a  shame  that  I  did  not  do  so,  and  the  only 
explanation  that  I  can  give  is  that  I  have  not 
kept  anything  whatever  from  anybody.  The 
first  time  that  I  saw  your  father  was  at  Kenyon 
College,  when  he  came  there  once  for  a  visit  at 
Commencement  season.  This  was  in  1867,  I 
think.  I  saw  him  at  my  house.  I  had  never 
met  an  educated  Catholic  before.  ...  I  was 
greatly  attracted  by  his  gracious  and  winning 
manner.  We  did  not  speak  on  religious  sub- 
jects, but  I  was  conscious  of  that  influence  of 
personal  sanctity  which  all  who  knew  him  must 
have  felt.  Even  in  a  casual  conversation 
one  could  not  help  the  conviction  that  his 
heart  and  mind  were  filled  with  the  things 
of  God.  Of  course  I  was  greatly  interested 
in  his  being  a  convert,  and  in  the  fact 
of  his  having  been  rector  of  St.  Paul 's,  Colum- 
bus. After  I  became  a  Catholic,  I  learned  from 
him  that  he  had  begun  at  that  time  to  pray  for 
me,  and  that  he  had  then,  or  not  long  after, 
sent  my  name  to  the  Apostleship  of  Prayer. 
God  alone  knows  how  much  I  owe  to  him.  I 
do  not  think  that  I  saw  him  again  until  I  entered 
the  Church,  some  two  years  and  a  half  later, 
but  we  did  not  lose  sight  of  one  another.  The 
impression — the  first  impression — made  upon 
me  was  without  doubt  greater  than  I  at  all  im- 
agined at  the  time  and  was  gradually  deepening. 


316  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

When  I  was  at  Hobart  College,  shortly  before 
withdrawing  from  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  we  exchanged  some  letters,  and  he 
helped  me  over  some  of  my  theological  difficul- 
ties. He  was  a  ripe  controversialist,  certainly 
as  regards  the  Anglican  j^osition,  and  knew  his 
ground  well,  but  he  always  fenced  gently,  used 
great  forebearance  and  never  pressed  too  hard. 
He  also  sent  me  two  or  three  books,  Newman's 
Loss  and  Gam  among  them.  After  my  recep- 
tion into  the  Church,  one  of  my  first  delights 
was  to  meet  him.  But  I  met  you  all  then. 
From  that  time  onward  my  friendship  with  your 
father  is  known  to  you  all.  I  never  knew  any- 
one who  seemed  more  constantly  occupied  with 
divine  things.  There  never  was  a  more  ardent 
Catholic.  He  loved  the  Church  with  a  really 
passionate  affection.  And  when  in  after  years 
his  soul  passed  into  the  obscure  night,  and  down 
into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  when 
he  suffered  untold  anguish,  and  thought  himself 
an  abandoned  wretch,  everyone  else  could  see 
that  he  was  only  ripening  in  holiness  and  pass- 
ing through  what  the  saints  pass  through.  May 
his  life  be  our  inspiration  and  his  memory  be 
in  benediction. 

*'I  am  always,  dear  Father  Eichards, 
**  Faithfully  yours  in  J.  Xt. 

"FiDELIS  OF  THE  CeOSS,  C.  P." 


BOSTON  317 

The  first  letter,  written  shortly  after  Dr. 
Stone  became  a  priest  in  the  Paulist  Congrega- 
tion, gives  his  enthusiastic  appreciation  of  that 
religious  body. 

* '  Chuech  of  St.  Paul  the  Apostle, 

"59th  St.  and  9th  Ave.,  N.  Y. 

"Feb.  4,  1871. 
"1/?/  clear  Mr.  Richards: 

* '  I  was  upon  the  point  of  condoling  with  you 
upon  your  long  and  grievous  sickness ;  but  you 
take  it  in  such  a  good  Christian  way,  and  make 
it  the  occasion  of  so  much  grace  and  merit  that 
I  really  think  you  ought  to  be  rather  congratu- 
lated. For  the  sake  of  those  who  love  you, 
however,  I  cannot  repress  the  hope  that  when 
this  reaches  you  it  will  find  you  once  more  in 
vigorous  health. 

"...  I  have  made  mementos  for  your  sister- 
in-law  at  Holy  Mass,  and  will  do  what  little  is 
in  my  power  to  help  you  in  interceding  for  her 
conversion.  I  wish  I  could  do  much  more. 
You  know  I  owe  you  a  great  debt,  which  I  can 
never  pay  back.  .  .  .  The  more  familiar  I  be- 
come with  the  spirit  and  working  of  the  Paul- 
ist Congregation,  the  more  convinced  I  am  that 
God  designed  it  to  accomplish  a  special  (per- 
haps a  great)  work  in  this  new  and  marvelous 
field  which  has  been  thrown  open  to  the  Church. 


318  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

The  Community  is  beginning  its  work  quietly, 
and,  it  may  seem,  slowly ;  but  if  in  the  course  of 
ten  or  twenty  years  it  has  not  greatly  extended 
itself,  and  is  not  felt  as  a  power  in  the  land, 
then  I  shall  confess  myself  to  be  a  sad  bungler 
at  reading  the  intentions  of  Divine  Providence. 
There  is  great  elasticity  in  the  organization  of 
this  little  order,  and  a  wonderful  capability  of 
adaptation  (so  it  seems  to  me)  to  all  tliose 
manifold  phases  of  tliought  and  character  which 
are  to  be  found  among  the  American  people. 
AVe  shall  have  access  to  the  public,  and  secure 
a  hearing  which  could  hardly  be  obtained  by 
any  order  not  American  in  its  origin;  and  I 
think  there  is  a  promise  of  life,  and  of  free- 
dom of  action,  and  of  ability  to  use  the  pulpit 
and  utilize  the  press  which  cannot  fail,  even 
humanly  speaking,  to  produce  great  results. 
Besides,  this  is  the  only  Congregation  which 
has  had  its  rise  in  this  country;  depend  upon 
it,  God  has  not  raised  it  up  for  nothing.  .  .  . 

'*I  would  not  have  it  supposed  that  because 
there  is  a  certain  amount  of  what  I  have  called 
freedom  in  our  Congregation,  there  is  therefore 
any  laxity;  on  the  contrary,  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  fervor,  and  one  can  be  as  ascetic  as  the 
old  hermits  of  the  desert,  if  God  gives  him  such 
grace.  .  .  . 

**  Please  give  my  most  kind  regards  to  Mrs. 
Richards  and  all  your  family.    Remember  me 


BOSTON  319 

also  to  the  kind  Fathers  at  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception. The  older  Fathers  here  frequently 
speak  of  you,  and  count  you  among  their  good 
friends. 

"Yours  ever  faithfully, 
*'J.  M.M.Stone." 

The  following  letter  reveals  a  fact  not  gen- 
erally known,  namely  that,  as  early  as  1871, 
Father  Hecker  considered  seriously  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  great  Catholic  weekly  periodical, 
and  even  had  the  preliminary  arrangements 
completed. 

*'St.  Paul's  Convent, 
"9th  Ave.  and  59th  St.  N.  Y. 
"April  11,  1871. 
"My  dear  Friend: 

"I  write  to  you  confidentially  about  a  mat- 
ter which  Father  Hecker  has  just  been  discuss- 
ing with  me.  He  has  been  for  a  long  time 
anxious  to  start  a  iveehly  paper,  which  shall  at 
once  take  a  stand  altogether  above  any  which 
we  now  have  and  which  may  be  worthy  of  the 
Church  in  this  country.  Archbishop  Mc- 
Closkey  (and  other  bishops)  cordially  approve 
and  promise  their  support.  Archbishop  McC. 
offers  $20,000  to  set  it  going.  Fr.  Hecker  will 
be  proprietor,  and  it  will  be  published  by  the 
Catholic  Publication  Society,  as  the  Catholic. 


320  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

World  now  is;  but  the  Archbishop's  wishes  will 
be  scrupulously  followed  in  all  things,  so  that 
there  can  be  no  possibility  of  a  collision.  All 
that  Fr.  Hecker  wants  is  an  editor.  The 
salary  will  be  a  fair  one  (I  think  Fr.  Hecker 
said  $3000).  He  must  be  a  man  with  the  free- 
dom of  a  layman,  yet  the  spirit  of  a  priest; 
with  the  discretion  which  comes  with  age,  yet 
the  fervor  of  youth :  a  man  whose  heart  will  be 

c  7 

in  his  work,  and  who  understands  the  wants  of 
the  times,  and  how  to  deal  with  that  latest 
phenomenon, — 'the  American  mind';  in  short, 
a  well-educated,  live,  Yankee  Catholic.  Do  you 
know  snch  a  man?  I  think  I  do,  just  the  man; 
and  what's  more,  I  took  the  liberty  of  telling 
Fr.  Hecker  so,  much  to  his  edification.  I  trust 
that  you  are  thoroughly  well  again.  .  .  . 
"Kindest  regards  to  all, 
"Faithfully  yours  in  Jesus  Christ, 

"J.  M.  M.  Stone. 
"H.  L.  Richards,  Esq. 

"St.  Paul's  Chuech,  N.  Y. 

"9th  Ave.  and  59th  St. 

"April  17,  1871. 
'*My  dear  Goose: 

"You  were  indeed  humble  not  to  see  that  I 
meant  you  and  that  what  I  wanted  was  to  find 
out,  in  an  indirect  and  informal  way,  whether 
you   would   accept   the   editorship   if   offered. 


BOSTON  321 

You  would  not  have  much  of  the  heavy  writing 
to  do.  There  would  be  a  good  staff  of  solid 
contributors.  .  .  . 

''Faithfully  yours  in  Jesus  Christ, 

''J.  M.  M.  Stone." 

Mr.  Eichards  felt  compelled  to  decline  the 
proposition. 

''St.  Paul's  Convent, 
"59th  St.  and  9th  Ave.,  N.  Y., 

"April  19,  1871. 
''My  dear  Mr.  Richards: 

"Fr.  Hecker  is  sorry,  and  so  am  I.  But  it's 
all  right;  where  God's  will  is  plain,  we  must  be 
sure  of  that.  ...  If  anvone  else  should  occur 
to  you,  let  Fr.  Hecker  know. 

"Very  faithfully, 

"J.  M.  M.  S." 

Father  Hecker 's  project  was  finally  aban- 
doned, and  his  ideal  of  a  great  Catholic  weekly 
has  been  realized  only  recently  in  America  con- 
ducted by  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 

"St.  Paul's,  W.  59th  St., 
"Nov.  18,  1871. 
"Ifi/  dear  Mr.  Richards: 

"I  take  the  liberty  of  sending  you  by  the 
same  mail  as  this,  a  rosary  which  I  have  been 


322  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

making  for  you  in  token  of  gratitude  for  many 
spiritual  favors.  AVill  you  do  me  another, 
sometime,  by  saying  it  once  for  me?  .  .  .  The 
beads  are  seeds  of  the  'Indian  Shot'  or  'Rosary 
Plant'  which  grew  in  our  convent  garden.  I 
gathered  them,  and  perforated  them  with  an 
awl  and  a  jackknife,  to  the  no  small  detriment 
of  the  ends  of  my  fingers.  The  making  of  the 
chain  has  occupied  a  good  many  half  hours  at 
recreation;  for  I  am  but  a  clumsy  apprentice 
at  the  art.  I  am  sorry  about  Mrs.  K.  but  I 
can't  afford  to  stop  very  long  to  worry  over 
her,  or  any  other  friend  who  won't  see  things 
in  the  right  light.  You  know  our  patron  is  not 
St.  Martha,  Imt  her  sister,  who  was  not 
'troubled  about  many  things.'  Otium  sancUim 
quaerit  charitas  veritatis,  says  St.  Augustine. 
Like  Mary  then,  let  us  study  Otio  sancto  vacare 
Deo,  in  holy  quietude  to  be  at  leisure  for  God. 
For  but  one  thing  is  necessary. 

"Kindest  regards  to  all. 

"J.  M.  M.  S. 
"The  Rosary  was  blessed  by  Fr.  Hecker." 

"St.  Paul's,  W.  59th  St.,  N.  York, 

"11  Dec.  1872. 
"1/?/  dear  Mr.  Richards: 

"I  enter  retreat  this  evening,  but  I  must  send 
a   good-by   word    of   thanks    for    your   letter. 


BOSTON  323 

You  know,  I  owe  more  to  you  tlian  to  any  other 
person, — though  your  patience  has  learned  by 
this  time  that  I  don't  show  much  gratitude, 
either  by  writing  or  otherwise.  I  am  sorry  to 
hear  of  your  ill  health,  knowing  the  spiritual 
trials  with  which  it  must  be  accompanied.  But 
then,  we  shall  not  be  sorry  for  it  in  the  end.  St. 
Teresa,  you  know,  and  S.  John  of  the  Cross, 
and  all  the  Saints  tell  us  that  God  leads  by  the 
way  of  desolation  those  to  whom  he  has  a 
special  favor.  Now,  if  you  could  see  through 
God's  plan,  if  you  could  be  conscious  all  the 
time  that  God  was  only  trying  you,  it  would 
be  no  real  dereliction,  and  consequently  no  real 
trial.  No, — the  more  weary  and  prolonged  the 
conflict,  the  brighter  will  be  the  issue  and  the 
more  glorious  the  crown.  We  admit  this  ab- 
stractly; but  we  cannot  realize  it  practically; 
for,  if  we  did,  we  should  be  so  sustained  by  it 
that  the  conflict  would  cease  to  be  weary  and 
doubtful  to  us.  All  we  can  do  is  to  make  an 
act  of  abandonment,  and  go  on  into  the  dark- 
ness. .  .  . 

"Yours  very  faithfully, 

"J.  M.  M.  Stone. '» 

The  next  letter  comes  after  an  interval  of 
eleven  years,  during  which  Dr.  Stone  had 
quitted  the  Paulist  order  for  the  Passionists, 


324  A  LOYAL  LIFE 


and  after  eminent  services  in  this  conntry,  had 

been  i 

giiay. 


been  sent  to  take  charge  of  the  mission  in  Para 


"Paraguari,  Paraguay, 

''July  22,  1883. 
''Henry  L.  Richards,  Esq. 

*'My  dear  old  friend:  If  I  mistake  not,  this 
is  the  69th  anniversary  of  your  entrance  into 
this  miseral)le  world,  and  I  congratulate,  not 
so  much  yourself  as  the  world  upon  the  event. 
One  of  the  best  things  about  you  is  that  you 
haven't  the  least  idea  how  much  sweeter  and 
better  the  world  is  for  your  being  in  it.  You 
think  you  are  only  a  bunch  of  old  herbs  laid  on 
the  shelf  to  dry.  Well,  dried  herbs  are  often 
the  most  aromatic,  and  I  can  distinctly  per- 
ceive down  here  in  the  heart  of  this  ruined  and 
unhappy  paradise,  a  faint  fragrance  which  I 
know  is  not  that  of  any  plant  indigenous  to 
Southern  soil.  It  comes  from  the  North.  It 
has  been  wafted  across  the  tropics.  It  is  red- 
olent of  green  and  hale  old  age,  of  staunch 
and  sturdy  faith.  Ah!  it  is  a  rare  and  choice 
old  jolant  that !  Not  an  exotic,  for  it  can  stand 
a  Northern  winter,  and  has  a  right  to  the  soil; 
but  it  is  a  marvelous  variety  for  all  that — a 
graft  of  Puritanism  on  the  old  Catholic  stock. 
I  don't  know  whether  you  are  a  Puritan,  but 
it's  all  the  same.    You  breathe  of  Boston. 


BOSTON  325 

' '  Now  see  here ; — I  'm  not  going  to  write  you 
a  letter.  I  haven't  written  any  letters  that  I 
could  help  for  the  last  two  years,  and  for  many 
months  I  haven't  written  any  at  all.  ...  I 
know  it  is  too  bad  to  disappoint  you,  there  is 
so  much  I  might  write  about,  which  would  be 
interesting;  about  this  beautiful,  half -tropical 
land  of  Paraguay;  and  how  it  looks  now  after 
the  war,  that  awful  war,  in  which  all  the  men 
were  killed  oif,  so  that  now  there  are  only 
women,  and  young  lads  who  were  babies  then; 
or  we  might  ride  away  through  the  forests  to 
visit  the  remains  of  one  of  the  old  Jesuit  mis- 
sion churches,  and  that  would  please  you  most 
of  all,  and  your  dear  old  eyes  would  fill  with 
tears  as  you  gazed  on  the  ancient  sanctuary, 
still  rich  in  its  ruins.  Or  I  might  give  you  a 
history  of  our  foundation  in  Buenos  Aires,  and 
tell  you  how  my  last  companion  in  the  priest- 
hood laid  himself  down  to  die,  worn  out,  a  gal- 
lant young  soldier,  patient  and  at  peace,  and 
how  I  was  ready  to  lie  down  by  his  side;  and 
how  reenforcements  came  at  last ;  and  how  pros- 
perous we  are  now,  with  our  neat  little  church 
and  convent,  and  well-shaded  grounds.  I 
might  do  all  this  and  other  things  besides,  but 
you  see  I  just  won't,  and  as  I  said  before,  this 
is  no  letter  but  only  a  little  love-token  on  your 
69th  birthday. 

^'And  who  can  tell  when  I  shall  see  you?    I 


326  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

may  remain  here,  it  is  true,  but  I  may  "be 
shipped  off  to  Boston  any  day,  or  to  New 
Zealand  for  that  matter. 

''Your  health,  my  friend,  for  many  years 
more, — 'ad  plures  annos!' — which  Havens  will 
tell  you  is  shocking  bad  Latin,  but  what  does 
Havens  know  about  South  iVmerican  Latin? 
And  I  hope  I  may  read  your  contribution  to 
some  periodical  not  yet  in  existence,  upon  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  your  reception  into  the 
Catholic  Church, — from  which  epoch,  by  the  bye, 
you  seem  to  date  your  genuine  career, 
which  will  also  exi)lain  a  phenomenon  that  ap- 
jiears  to  puzzle  you,  viz.,  that  j'ou  are  growing 
younger  when  you  ought  to  be  growing  old. 
So  here's  three  cheers  to  my  grand  old  friend 
far  away,  and  let  the  'penny  whistle'  pipe  the 
sound  till  it  startles  the  solitudes  of  this  sleepy 
Paraguay,  and  let  the  shrill  echo  fly,  past  the 
Amazon,  over  the  Gulf,  past  Cape  Hatteras,  till 
it  faintly  reaches  the  heart  of  Boston.  What 
are  time  and  space  anj-way?  It's  years  since 
we  met,  and  it's  leagues  that  we're  parted;  but 
all  that  is  easily  annihilated,  or  almost  an- 
nihilated, and  when  we  get  to  Heaven  (which 
vflvy  shouldn't  we!)  what  will  have  become  of 
years  and  leagues  then? 

"Allow  me  to  remark,  however,  that  you 
seem  to  be  growing  somewhat  reckless  in  your 
vigorous  old  age,  writing  'about  Hell,'  and  ac- 


BOSTON  327 

cusing  your  enlightened  fellow  citizens  of 
'bigotry  and  cupidity.'  Well,  you  may  accuse 
me  of  whatever  you  like,  and  if  you  accuse  me 
of  ingratitude  and  stupidity,  I  shall  say  it  is 
perfectly  true. 

"So  give  my  sincerest  affectionate  remem- 
brances to  all  at  home,  and  good-by,  my  dear 
old  friend, — I  won't  say  for  two  years  more, 
but  for  a  time. 

"Yours  in  the  love  of  our  Lord, 

"Fidelis  of  the  Cross, 

Passionist. 

The  summer  of  1872  saw  Mr.  Eichards  in 
England,  whither  he  had  gone  to  meet  the  prin- 
cipals of  his  firm.  In  the  journey,  his  attention 
was  given,  as  usual,  chiefly  to  religious 
objects  and  interests.  His  impressions  were  re- 
corded in  a  series  of  letters  to  the  Pilot,  from 
which  we  extract  the  following  pen  picture  of 
Cardinal  (then  Doctor)  Newman,  as  a  specimen 
of  his  style:  "Shall  I  try  to  describe  the  Doc- 
tor's appearance?  He  is,  then,  scarcely  above 
medium  height,  quite  thin  and  spare,  with  that 
same  ascetic  look  which  characterizes  the  illus- 
trious Dr.  Manning,  whom,  in  general  appear- 
ance, he  somewhat  resembles;  hair  quite  gray, 
in  fact  almost  white,  and  lying  upon  his  fore- 
head in  a  manner  indicating  either  neglect  or 
an  unusually  wayward  disposition,  prominent 


328  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

nose,  eye  undimmed,  a  decidedly  intellectual 
cast  of  countenance,  a  slight  stoop  indicating 
the  approach  of  age  (he  is  now  71) ;  yet  the 
moment  he  begins  to  speak,  you  see  that  he  has 
lost  none  of  that  clearness  and  vigor  of  mind, 
that  deep  intellectual  insight  and  comprehen- 
siveness of  genius,  that  intuitive  perception  and 
grasp  of  philosophic  thought,  for  which  he  has 
always  been  distinguished.  His  voice  is  soft 
and  low,  almost  feminine,  in  fact,  except  in  the 
lower  register,  as  in  giving  expression  to  some 
pathetic  passage,  when  it  is  deep  and  full  of 
feeling.  His  manner  is  quiet  and  refined,  his 
style  conversational,  without  effort  at  eloquence, 
and  with  no  action  except  a  slight  motion  of 
the  right  hand  in  giving  utterance  to  an  un- 
usually stirring  and  eloquent  thought.  Evi- 
dently the  Doctor  was  not  cut  out  for  a  sensa- 
tional or  even  for  what  is  ordinarily  called  a 
popular  preacher.  He  utterly  eschews  the 
tricks  of  oratory.  Yet  there  is  an  eloquence  of 
its  own  even  in  his  modesty  and  humility,  which 
speaks  to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers  and  pre- 
possesses them  in  his  favor,  while  any  defect 
of  manner  is  more  than  compensated  by  the 
eloquence  of  thought,  the  strength  of  reasoning, 
the  beauty  of  language  and  the  chasteness  of 
illustration  which  characterize  all  his  public 
addresses.  I  ought,  in  justice  to  the  Doctor,  to 
remark  before  closing,  that,  though  not  by  any 


BOSTON  329 

means  a  handsome  man,  he  is  not  as  ugly  as 
some  of  his  photographs  make  him.  The  first 
that  I  saw  in  the  States  were,  I  must  say,  mere 
caricatures.  Lately,  I  am  happy  to  say,  they 
have  succeeded  in  securing  at  least  two  very 
good  photographs,  representing  him  in  a  sit- 
ting posture,  in  the  act  of  reading  or  study- 
ing. ' ' 

Early  in  the  year  1873  was  organized  the 
Catholic  Union  of  Boston,  of  which  Mr.  Eich- 
ards  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  members 
from  the  beginning.  This  organization,  begun 
in  compliance  with  the  desire  of  Pius  IX  him- 
self, was  intended  to  be  a  union  of  educated 
Catholics  in  all  countries  for  the  defense  of  the 
Church  and  the  advocacy  of  Catholic  interests 
in  public  life.  For  some  years  it  exercised  con- 
siderable influence  both  in  Europe  and  in  this 
country.  Eome  having  been  occupied  by  the 
troops  of  United  Italy  in  1870,  one  of  the  first 
works  of  the  Catholic  Union  after  its  founda- 
tion was  to  hold  everywhere  great  popular 
meetings  to  testify  loyalty  to  the  Holy  Father 
and  to  protest  against  the  usurpation  of  his 
states.  The  Boston  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Music  Hall  on  Nov.  13th,  1873,  and  was  at- 
tended by  many  thousands  of  people  within 
and  without  the  building.  The  chief  speaker 
was  the  recent  convert,  Dr.  James  Kent  Stone. 
Among  the  subsidiary  speakers,  Mr.  Richards 


330  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

made  a  brief  and  telling  address.    Very  soon 
the  Catholic  Union  undertook  a  battle  for  the 
authorization   of  Catholic  worship   and  other 
religious  privileges  in  the  public  charitable  and 
penal  institutions  of  Boston.    In  a  letter  to  the 
New  York   Tablet   under   date   of  July   14th, 
1874,    Mr.    Eichards    announces    the    victory 
gained  and  expresses  the  surprise  common  to 
himself  and   many   others   that   *'in   this   en- 
lightened nineteenth  century,  here  in  Boston, 
the  very  centre  of  'light  and  knowledge  and 
liberty  and  progress,'  it  should  have  taken  so 
many  years  of  unwearied,  patient  labor  to  ac- 
complish a  simple  act  of  justice,  nay,  to  per- 
suade these  liberal  descendants  of  the  old  Puri- 
tans to  be  consistent  with  their  own  professed 
principles,   to   grant   to   Catholics   what   they 
claimed   for   themselves   and,   theoretically   at 
least,  for  the  whole  world — the  right  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  con- 
sciences."   He  takes  pleasure  in  acknowledg- 
ing that  the  immediate  occasion  of  the  favorable 
decision  seemed  to  have  been  the  speech  of  a 
Methodist  minister,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Pierce,  editor 
of  Zion's  Herald,  before  the  Board  of  Public 
Charities    at    their    annual    dinner    at    Deer 
Island.    After    the    expiration    of    the    term 
of  the  first  President  of  the  Catholic  Union, 
Mr.  Theodore  Metcalf,  Mr.  Richards,  though 
comparatively   a   newcomer   in   the   city,   was 


BOSTON  331 

elected  to  that  position  and  filled  it  with 
efficiency  and  honor  for  two  years.  In  this 
capacity,  he  organized  a  great  reception  to 
Cardinal  McCloskey  of  New  York,  to  Arch- 
bishop Williams  of  Boston  and  to  the  Papal 
Envoys,  when  the  Cardinal,  having  received  the 
red  hat,  came  to  Boston  to  confer  the  pallium, 
in  the  name  of  the  Pope,  upon  Archbishop 
"Williams.  The  reception  was  held  on  May  4th, 
1875,  and  Mr.  Eichards'  address  on  that  occa- 
sion was  marked  with  dignity  and  good  taste 
mingled  with  respect  and  enthusiastic  loyalty. 
It  was  received  with  the  warmest  applause. 

At  the  celebration  of  the  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary of  the  Catholic  Union  in  1898,  he  was 
the  oldest  living  ex-President  of  the  Boston 
organization. 

Loyalty  to  the  Church,  even  in  matters  rather 
of  counsel  than  of  strict  obligation,  was  Mr. 
Eichards'  most  prominent  characteristic.  This 
thoroughly  Catholic  spirit  was  put  to  the  test 
when  he  was  called  upon  to  leave  the  congrega- 
tion of  the  Immaculate  Conception  in  order  to 
devote  his  time  and  energies  to  his  parish 
church.  As  we  have  seen,  he  was  tenderly  and 
enthusiastically  attached  to  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
and  though  living  in  Eoxbury,  he  looked  upon 
"The  Immaculate"  as  his  spiritual  home.  But 
his  Pastor,  Father  Gallagher,  for  whose  unas- 
suming piety  and  zeal  Mr.  Eichards  also  felt 


332  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

deep  reverence,  bad  just  finished  tlie  new 
church  of  St.  Patrick  and  wished  his  convert 
friend  and  parishioner  to  take  charge  of  the 
Sunday  School  as  Superintendent.  He  made 
the  sacrifice  and  thenceforth  he  and  all  his 
family  attended  tlieir  parish  church.  A  lecture 
which  he  delivered  at  this  period  for  Father 
Gallagher  on  Protestantism,  Its  History  and 
Eccentricities,  was  well  received.  Other  lec- 
tures, delivered  in  Jersey  City,  Boston,  and 
Winchester,  on  Why  I  Became  a  Catholic,  The 
Experiences  of  a  Convert,  Should  Catholics  he 
Satisfied  icith  the  Public  Schools,  and  The 
Catholic  View  of  the  Bible,  and  several  of  his 
addresses  before  the  Catholic  Union  and  other 
bodies,  are  models  of  clear  and  forcible  com- 
position in  popular  style.  They  were  delivered 
with  a  voice  of  exceptional  beauty  and  with 
great  earnestness  and  effect.  But  Mr.  Rich- 
ards' invincible  modesty,  always  leading  him  to 
underestimate  his  own  powers  and  to  shrink 
from  notoriety,  prevented  him  from  gaining 
any  great  vogue  as  a  popular  lecturer. 

The  financial  panic  and  depression  of  busi- 
ness in  1873  and  the  years  immediately  succeed- 
ing, brought  notable  changes  in  Mr.  Richards' 
life.  His  business  affairs  had  gone  on  pros- 
perously and  some  of  his  friends  predicted  that 
his  conviction  that  Providence  wished  him  and 
his  family  always  to  remain  poor  and  in  sen- 


BOSTON  333 

sible  dependence  npon  Him  who  feedeth  the 
young  ravens  was  to  be  proved  mistaken.  He 
was  in  danger  of  growing  rich.  However,  ad- 
monitions to  the  contrary  were  not  wanting  and 
they  always  fonnd  him  faithful  in  his  contempt 
for  the  goods  of  this  world.  On  one  occasion, 
when  he  had  lost  a  considerable  sum  of  money 
through  what  seemed  to  be  plain  fraud  and 
dishonesty  on  the  part  of  a  business  acquaint- 
ance, Mr.  Eichards  declined  to  prosecute  the 
offender  in  either  the  civil  or  criminal  courts, 
refrained  from  taking  any  notice  of  the  injury 
and  bore  the  loss  with  the  most  perfect 
equanimity. 

When  the  panic  came,  the  importing  houses, 
already  burdened  with  an  enormous  tariff, 
found  it  very  difficult  to  continue.  The  Shef- 
field firm  represented  by  Mr.  Richards  entered 
into  combination  with  American  manufacturers, 
and  sending  skilled  workmen  to  this  country, 
essayed  to  make  English  steel  on  American  soil. 
The  experiment  was  not  at  first  an  unqualified 
success,  and  resulting  disagreements  finally 
forced  Mr.  Richards  to  resign  his  post.  He 
therefore  saw  himself  at  the  age  of  sixty-four 
thrown  again  upon  the  world  to  begin  life,  in 
a  material  sense,  over  again.  His  sons  had  not 
yet  attained  to  a  position  by  which  they  could 
enable  him  and  the  other  members  of  his  family 
to  live  at  ease.    Yet  his  faith  and  confidence 


334  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

never  wavered.  ''God  will  provide!"  his 
favorite  exclamation,  came  from  his  lips  in  the 
same  cheery  tones. 

After  a  short  time,  his  confidence  in  God's 
loving  providence  was  justified  by  his  appoint- 
ment as  Visitor  to  the  Poor  for  the  Board  of 
Charities  of  the  City  of  Boston.  It  was  an 
humble  office  for  one  of  his  experience  and  for- 
mer standing  in  the  business  world.  But  it 
precisely  suited  his  tastes  and  afforded  him  a 
wide  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  sympathetic 
charity  toward  the  poor  and  suffering.  The 
provision  made  for  the  poor  in  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton is  worthy  of  admiration  and  could  be  prof- 
itably imitated  by  other  municipalities.  It  is 
based  upon  the  assumption  that  the  city  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  maintenance  of  its  honest 
poor.  Under  the  direction  of  a  central  Board 
of  Overseers,  Visitors  are  assigned  to  the  va- 
rious districts  into  which  the  city  is  divided. 
Every  Visitor  is  expected  to  know  his  district 
thorouo-hlv  and  to  render  immediate  assistance 
to  any  family  found  to  need  it.  In  this  work, 
all  the  private  agencies  of  benevolence  are  of 
course  enlisted;  every  effort  is  made  to  avoid 
imposture,  to  find  emplojonent  for  the  deserv- 
ing, to  aid  the  destitute  in  becoming  self-sup- 
porting and  not  to  pauperize  them  unduly.  But 
the  immediate  and  final  responsibility  in  every 
case  is  not  on  the  voluntary  agencies,  but  on 


BOSTON  335 

the  city;  and  an  efficient  organization,  especially 
through  the  corps  of  Visitors,  renders  the  sys- 
tem available  to  the  poor,  and  effective.  To 
some  ultraconservative  minds,  this  may  seem 
socialistic.  But  a  moment's  reflection,  and  still 
more,  a  short  experience,  will  show  that  it  is 
only  Christian.  Men  are  not  free  to  be  mem- 
bers of  society  or  not;  they  are  born  in  it,  as 
truly  as  in  the  material  world.  The  social  or- 
ganism is  one  body;  and  as  it  is  natural  and 
necessary  for  the  whole  body  to  assist  and 
cherish  any  limb  or  member  that  is  weak  or 
ailing,  so  is  it  right  that  the  body  politic  should 
care  for  its  destitute  and  suffering  members. 
For  twenty-three  years,  first  as  Visitor,  and 
later,  as  advancing  age  rendered  the  long 
tramps  and  constant  climbing  of  stairs  almost 
impossible  for  him,  in  the  office  of  the  Board, 
did  Mr.  Eichards  exercise  a  tender  and  gen- 
erous charity  seldom  perhaps  found  in  so  high 
a  degree  in  the  paid  agents  of  official  philan- 
thropy. His  unassuming  kindness  and  cheery 
manner  brought  sunshine  into  darkened  lives, 
and  his  visits  were  looked  for  as  those  of  an 
angel.  Beside  the  material  relief  given  and  the 
words  of  comfort  and  cheer,  he  tried,  in  his 
own  prudent,  but  simple  and  direct  way,  to 
raise  the  thoughts  of  the  poor  to  spiritual 
things.  If  he  found  they  were  Catholics,  he 
enquired  as  to  the  fulfilment  of  their  religious 


336  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

duties,  and  urged  upoii  them  the  reception  of 
the  sacraments.  Many  a  family  has  heen  re- 
called from  vice  as  well  as  misery  by  his  timely 
and  fatlierly  counsels.  In  this  work  he  became 
even  more  deeply  convinced  of  the  absolute 
necessity  of  religious  education  than  he  had 
previously  been.  He  used  to  declare  that  he 
could  tell  a  girl  who  had  been  trained  in  the 
Sisters'  school  from  one  who  had  attended  the 
public,  irreligious  schools  as  far  as  he  could  see 
them  on  the  street.  His  experience  in  the  work 
of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  was  of 
advantage  in  his  official  work  for  the  poor. 
Sometimes,  if  all  the  municipal  and  voluntary 
organizations  did  not  suffice  to  meet  the  wants 
of  the  case,  he  would  call  on  friends  to  add  their 
contributions  to  his  own.  An  instance  of  this 
is  the  case  of  a  blind  girl  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary intelligence,  whom  he  found  in  distress. 
The  city  would  no  doubt  have  sent  her  to  an 
asylum  for  the  blind ;  but  to  this  she  felt  an  un- 
conquerable aversion,  and  no  available  institu- 
tion of  the  kind  seemed  to  offer  a  favorable 
environment  as  to  religion.  Indeed,  the  sub- 
ject of  one  of  Mr.  Eichards'  published  articles 
had  been:  The  Tendency  of  the  Perkins  In- 
stitute for  the  Blind  to  Convert  Catholic  Pupils 
to  the  Protestant  Faith.  He  therefore  spoke 
to  several  friends,  each  of  whom  contributed  a 
small  amount  monthly,  and  thus  supplied  what 


BOSTON  337 

^as  wanting  to  the  support  of  tlie  blind  woman 
in  independence  for  years.  As  she  was  very 
devout  and  appreciated  greatly  the  high  mass 
at  the  Immaculate,  a  seat  was  obtained  for  her 
exclusive  use  behind  one  of  the  great  columns.  ^ 
The  solicitude  of  Mr.  Richards  for  his  charges 
was  not  limited  to  the  alleviation  of  their  im- 
mediate ills,  whether  temporal  or  spiritual. 
He  continued  his  watchful  charity  as  long  as 
he  felt  there  was  any  good  to  be  done,  and 
oftentimes  kept  up  a  regular  correspondence 
by  letter  for  their  encouragement,  instruction 
and  guidance.  What  was  remarkable  about  all 
such  letters  coming  from  his  pen  was  the  ab- 
sence of  anything  like  a  patronizing  tone.  He 
wrote  not  as  a  superior  or  benefactor,  but  as  a 
friend  on  a  perfect  equality,  and  often  as  an 
affectionate  father.  Some  examples  will  illus- 
trate this  better  than  description.  The  follow- 
ing letter  to  one  of  his  blind  protegees  evi- 
dences his  unfailing  interest  in  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  those  whom  he  befriended,  as  well 
as  his  delight  at  news  of  conversions : — 

"WiNCHESTEE,  Mass., 
"Independence,  July  4,  1889. 

''Mp  dear  M 

''Your  enthusiastic  letter  gave  me  a  great 
deal  of  pleasure.  I  was  delighted  to  learn  that 
you  had  had  the  great  privilege  of  assisting  at 


338  A  LOYxM.  LIFE 

the  mission  and  that  you  entered  into  it  so 
heartily  and  enjoyed  it  with  such  genuine 
spiritual  zest.  And  you  had  the  great  pleasure 
of  attending  the  celebration  of  Father  Barry's 
twenty-fifth  anniversary.  Well,  you  have  en- 
joyed an  abundance  of  spiritual  riches.  I  am 
almost  afraid  that  you  have  mounted  the  ladder 
of  perfection  so  high  that  I,  poor  clodhopper, 
will  not  be  able  to  reach  you.  .  .  .  Well,  I  am 
glad  of  it,  for  now  you  will  be  a  constant 
stimulus  to  us  to  follow  after  you  and  try  to 
imitate  your  example.  I  am  glad  now  to  be 
able  to  send  you  some  material  aid,  for  I  take 
for  granted  that  in  your  state  of  happy  exalta- 
tion you  are  not  entirely  free  from  the  demands 
of  our  lower  nature.  You  must  eat  and  drink 
and  have  wherewithal  to  be  clothed,  and  while 
I  rejoice  at  your  spiritual  exaltation  I  cannot 
but  express  the  hope  that  you  will  not  neglect 
the  body,  but  that  you  will  return  to  us  in  due 
time  very  greatly  improved  in  physical  condi- 
tion, mens  sana  in  cor  pore  sano, — a  sound  mind 
in  a  sound  body.  .  .  .  Did  I  tell  you  about  the 
young  convert,  Mr.  Power,  for  whom  I  stood 
sponsor  when  received  by  Father  Bodfish? 
Well,  he  is  here  now  on  a  visit,  and  the  other 
day  he  brought  another  young  convert  to  see 
me,  a  Mr.  Mayo,  son  of  a  Unitarian  minister 
who  is  a  popular  lecturer  on  the  subject  of 
public  schools.     He  is  a  fine  young  fellow  and 


BOSTON  339 

a  splendid  musician.  Another  young*  man,  a 
Methodist,  was  received  at  the  Immaculate 
Conception  the  other  day.  So  they  come  one 
by  one.  Bye  and  bye,  please  God,  they  will 
come  like  doves  flocking  to  their  windows.  Beo 
Gratias! 

''Your  affectionate  friend, 

''H.   L.   ElCHARDS.'' 

Some  of  the  letters  are  little  theological 
treatises.  An  example  of  this  is  the  follow- 
ing, written  to  the  blind  girl  mentioned  above. 
It  is  evidently  intended  for  the  instruction  of 
"Mattie,"  a  friend  of  hers,  similarly  afflicted, 
who  later  came  into  the  Church. 

''Winchester,  July  20,  1887. 

''My  dear  M 

"I  enclose  two  Immaculate  medals,  as  they 
are  called,  one  for  you  and  one  for  Miss  Mattie. 
You  may  tell  her  it  is  not  a  charm,  that  we  do 
not  expect  it  to  perform  miracles,  though  there 
are  well  authenticated  cases  in  which  a  medal 
worn  by  a  soldier  has  stopped  a  bullet  and  ap- 
parently saved  his  life,  as  if  by  a  miracle.  Tell 
her  it  is  like  the  homeopathic  medicine, — if  it 
does  her  no  good  it  will  do  her  no  harm.  The 
medals  have  been  blessed  by  our  dear  young 
priest.  Father  Lee,  who  is  a  good,  holy  and 
zealous  soul.    You  can  explain  to  Miss  Mattie 


340  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

that  the  Church  acts  upon  the  principle  that 
everything  devoted  to  an  exchisively  religious 
purpose  is  very  properly  blessed  by  the  priest. 
God,  of  course,  is  the  source  of  all  blessing, 
but  certain  persons  have  special  authority  to 
bless  in  His  name  so  that  the  blessing  is  more 
than  a  mere  prayer — it  actually  conveys  God's 
blessing  to  those  who  are  fit  to  receive  it.  Thus 
in  the  Old  Law,  God  said  of  the  Sons  of  Aaron, 
— 'They  shall  invoke  My  name  on  the  Children 
of  Israel  and  I  will  bless  them,'  and  our  Lord 
said  to  his  disciples, — 'Into  whatsoever  house 
you  enter,  say.  Peace  be  to  this  house,  and  if  the 
son  of  peace  be  there  your  peace  shall  rest 
upon  him.'  Hence  it  is  a  beautiful  Catholic 
custom  when  the  priest  visits  a  house  for  the 
members  of  the  family  to  kneel  and  ask  his 
blessing.  In  blessing  material  things,  the  idea 
is  that  though  God  created  all  things  good  at 
first,  vet,  bv  the  fall  the  world  has  come  under 

7      •  7  » 

the  dominion  of  the  devil  and  the  blessing  of 
the  priest  rescues  material  things  from  that 
power.  It  may  be  asked  how  medals,  or  water, 
or  candles  can  possibly  help  us  on  the  way  to 
heaven.  In  themselves  they  plainly  have  no 
such  power.  But  they  tend  to  excite  good  dis- 
positions in  those  who  use  them  aright,  not  only 
iDCcause  they  remind  us  of  holy  things  but  also 
because  they  have  been  blessed  for  our  use  by 
the  prayers  of  the  Church.     There  is  certainly 


BOSTON  341 

no  superstition  in  believing  that  if  the  Church 
prays  that  the  sight  or  use  of  pious  objects  may 
excite  good  desires  in  her  children,  God  will 
listen  to  these  prayers  and  touch  in  a  special 
way  the  hearts  of  those  who  use  them  aright. 
So  I  hope  Miss  Mattie  will  not  have  any  scruple 
in  wearing  her  medal,  but  in  the  light  of  this 
little  dissertation  be  able  to  appreciate  it  at 
its  true  worth. 

**Did  I  acknowledge  your  good,  long  and  very 
interesting  and  I  may  add  delightful  letter  in 
my  last?  If  not,  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  be- 
stowing so  much  labor  and  pains  to  keep  me 
advised  of  your  doings  and  feelings  and  to  puff 
me  up  like  an  inflated  bladder.  Of  course  I 
feel  proud  of  your  good  opinion  but  you  know 
what  I  think  of  the  puffing  process.  Tell  Miss 
Mattie  I'm  afraid  the  propensity  is  catching. 
She  must  try  and  avoid  it  as  much  as  possible. 
Pray  for  me,  a  poor  old  sinner  in  the  sight  of 
God,  but  don't  praise  me.  .  .  . 

' '  Your  affectionate  friend, 

''H.  L.  Richards." 


CHAPTER  XII 

Winchester 

1878—1903 

At  the  time  of  his  financial  difficulties  in 
1878,  Mr.  Eicliards  removed  his  household  to 
the  little  town  of  Winchester.  He  soon  found 
that  the  change,  though  made  from  motives  of 
economy,  had  resulted  in  many  other  advan- 
tages. He  became  deeply  attached  to  the  beau- 
tiful little  town  and  to  the  friends  whom  he 
made  there,  so  that,  except  for  church  facilities, 
at  that  time  rather  meager,  he  would  have 
looked  back  to  Boston  without  the  least  regret. 
His  house  being  near  the  railway  station,  he 
would  sometimes  go  by  an  early  train  to  St. 
Mary's  Church  in  Boston,  receive  Holy  Com- 
munion, return  to  Winchester  for  breakfast,  and 
go  again  to  Boston,  reaching  his  office  in  full 
time  for  business.  An  indication  of  his  youth- 
ful spirit  was  his  habit  of  continuing  his  writ- 
ing or  other  work  at  home  until  the  train  was 
about  to  start :  then,  running  through  the  yard 
and  scaling  the  low  wall  at  the  foot  of  the  gar- 
den— from  which  one  or  two  stones  had  been 

342 


WINCHESTER  343 

removed — lie  would  mount  the  steps  of  the  cars, 
often  already  in  motion.  This  he  continued,  in 
spite  of  all  remonstrances  from  wife  and  chil- 
dren, until  his  removal  from  that  house  put  an 
end  to  such  hairbreadth  escapes,  after  he  was 
seventy  years  of  age. 

Although  his  energies  were  now  somewhat 
divided  between  his  new  home  and  Boston,  he 
was  soon  engaged,  with  all  his  wonted  zeal,  in 
active  work  in  his  new  parish.  Its  compara- 
tively neglected  condition  at  that  period  tilled 
him  with  grief.  The  results  of  Mr.  Richards' 
work  in  the  Sunday  School  were  soon  apparent 
in  the  improved  behavior  of  the  boys  and  in 
their  respectful  salutations  of  the  priest  on  the 
streets.  He  endeavored  to  implant  a  habit  of 
Catholic  reading  among  both  parents  and  chil- 
dren, giving  books  and  papers  himself  for  the 
purpose.  The  example  of  his  frequent  com- 
munion and  intense  devotion  gave  heart  to 
those  who  aspired  to  better  things.  But  he 
was  convinced  that  Catholicity  in  Winchester 
would  never  flourish  satisfactorily  without  a 
parish  school.  The  young  people,  educated  in 
the  public  grammar  schools  and  high  school, 
were  too  often  only  half  Catholic,  almost  totally 
wanting  in  Catholic  sentiment  and  devotion, 
even  when  not  entirely  ignorant  of  the  leading 
doctrines  of  the  Church.  The  very  excellence 
of  the  schools  in  other  particulars  was  rather  a 


344  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

source  of  clanger  to  the  faith  and  devotion  of 
the  Catholic  children.  The  Apostolate  of  the 
Press,  which  Mr.  Richards  had  exercised  dili- 
gently from  the  early  days  of  his  conversion,  as- 
sumed greater  j^roportions  in  his  life  after  his 
removal  to  Winchester.  His  connection  with 
the  Sacred  Heart  Review,  as  a  regular  editorial 
contributor,  opened  to  him  a  new  and  very  con- 
genial field.  His  eldest  son,  Harry,  had  been 
engaged  by  the  founder  and  director  of  that 
paper.  Father  (now  Monsignor)  John  O'Brien, 
as  sub-editor,  a  i:)osition  which  he  filled  for  sev- 
eral years  and  until  his  shattered  nerves  and 
ill-health  compelled  him  to  withdraw,  much  to 
the  disappointment  of  his  chief,  who  was  always 
looking  for  his  return.  Harry's  crisp  and  tell- 
ing "Editorial  Comments"  were  extremely 
popular  and  increased  very  greatly  the  in- 
fluence of  the  paper.  Both  father  and  son  con- 
ceived an  immense  admiration  and  affection  for 
Father  O'Brien.  They  looked  upon  him  as  a 
very  remarkable  man,  as  well  as  an  exemplary 
priest.  They  considered  his  ability  and  energy 
in  the  founding,  systematizing  and  extending  of 
his  journal  to  be  equaled  only  by  the  clearness 
of  sight,  sound  judgment  and  thoroughly 
Catholic  spirit  with  which  he  managed  and  con- 
trolled it.  An  instance  of  this  was  the  fact  that 
when  the  great  school  controversy  was  raging 
violently   in   the   Catholic,   and   even   secular, 


■WINCHESTER  345 

press — a  controversy  in  which  many  of  the 
Catholic  papers  displayed  undignified  bitter- 
ness and  most  of  them  were  ranged  on  what 
proved  to  be  the  wrong  side— Father  O'Brien 
allowed  no  allusion  to  the  conflict  to  appear  in 
his  columns. 

On  his  part,  the  priest-editor  formed  the 
highest  regard  for  his  two  co-laborers  and  gave 
them  every  encouragement  in  their  work  for 
God  and  the  Church.  Up  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  Mr.  Eichards  continued  to  furnish  to  the 
Sacred  Heart  Revieiv,  from  his  own  pen,  one  or 
more  editorials  every  week,  beside  other  com- 
munications in  the  form  of  letters.  At  the  same 
time,  he  performed  similar  service  for  Hickey's 
CatJiolic  Revieiv  of  New  York,  and  Donalioe's 
Magazine  of  Boston,  as  long  as  the  founders  of 
these  publications  lived,  and  gave  occasional 
articles  to  the  Pilot,  the  Catholic  Columbian, 
Truth,  and  other  religious  periodicals  in  va- 
rious parts  of  the  country. 

When  it  is  considered  that  all  this  was  accom- 
plished by  a  man  already  advanced  in  years, 
whose  daily  business  occupations  were  laborious 
and  exhausting  and  who  at  the  same  time  kept 
up  an  enormous  correspondence,  a  wide  reading 
and  a  leading  part  in  parish  activities,  the  in- 
dustry and  vigor  displayed  in  the  task  seem 
astounding.  Mr.  Richards  was  always  very 
modest  in  his  appreciation  of  his  own  writings. 


346  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

He  often  said  that  he  was  blowing  only  a  penny 
whistle,  that  he  was  familiar  with  only  two  or 
three  subjects  and  that  the  impossibility  of  hav- 
ing easy  access  to  any  great  Catholic  library  or 
of  purchasing  all  the  books  he  needed  kept  his 
work  confined  within  very  narrow  limits.  But 
this  was  by  no  means  true.  While  he  did  in- 
sist most  frequently  upon  Catholic  education 
and  the  need  of  the  infallible  authority  of  the 
Pope  in  the  Christian  Church,  as  a  Supreme 
Court  in  matters  of  doctrine  and  conduct,  he 
ventured  also  with  a  firm  step  into  countless 
other  fields.  Among  the  papers  found  after  his 
death  is  a  list  of  some  hundreds  of  articles  from 
his  pen,  treating  of  almost  every  conceivable 
religious  topic,  from  the  most  fundamental  to 
the  most  elevated.  In  treating  of  the  Existence 
of  God,  the  Argument  from  Design,  and  the  lat- 
est phases  of  the  contest  between  Agnosticism 
and  the  Church,  he  is  as  clear  and  effective  as 
in  his  treatment  of  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  or  the  Holy  Angels,  or  the  Qualities  of 
True  Mysticism.  He  also  kept  a  watchful  eye 
upon  non-Catholic  organs,  and  any  especially 
gross  blunder  or  misrepresentation  on  the  part 
of  the  Independent,  the  Ontlook  or  other  such 
publications  was  pretty  sure  to  receive  a  cour- 
teous but  crushing  refutation  at  his  hands. 

Some  of  the  titles  are  suggestive  and  almost 
arguments  in  themselves,  as  for  example.  Don't 


."WINCHESTER  347 

Unchain  the  Tiger!  in  reference  to  the  dangers 
of  godless  education.  The  following  letter  ex- 
presses forcibly  the  principle  on  which  he  al- 
ways acted,  of  not  allowing  attacks  on  the 
Church  to  pass  unchallenged : — 

THE  POWER  OF  THE  PROTEST 

Boston,  Mass.,  Sept.  24,  1900. 
Editor  Review: — 

I  was  very  glad  to  see  the  suggestion  of  the 
Institute  Journal,  of  California,  in  your  issue 
of  Sept.  22,  in  regard  to  the  best  means  of  stop- 
ping the  anti-Catholicism  of  the  daily  press. 

I  have  long  felt  the  truth  of  the  suggestion, 
and  have  even  thought  of  writing  to  urge  it 
upon  our  people,  that  the  proper  and  most  ef- 
fective way  of  bringing  the  editors  of  the  daily 
press  to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  inexpediency 
of  admitting  to  their  columns  articles  obnox- 
ious to  the  Catholic  body  is  for  Catholics  them- 
selves— clerical  and  lay — to  write  to  their  pa- 
pers letters  of  protest  and  expostulation  when- 
ever such  an  article  appears. 

Indeed,  it  has  often  surprised  me  to  notice 
the  apparent  apathy  and  indifference  shown 
by  our  Catholic  people  even  under  the  most 
shameful  attacks  upon  their  faith  and  their 
Church. 

Why  should  we  sit  still  while  that  which  is 


348  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

our  dearest  treasure  on  earth — our  holy  faith 
— is  attacked  and  vilified  by  ignorant  and  un- 
scrupulous writers!  It  is  a  very  simple  thing 
— it  will  take  but  a  very  few  moments — to  write 
a  brief  and  earnest  protest.  It  is  not  necessary 
always  to  enter  into  an  arg-ument  on  the  subject 
— simply  let  it  be  understood  that  the  article 
in  question  is  obnoxious  to  Catholics;  that  the 
attack  or  the  insinuation  is  false,  groundless 
and  uncalled-for,  and  likely  as  not  has  been  an- 
swered a  thousand  times,  and  if  the  publishers 
do  not  wish  to  offend  their  Catholic  readers  and 
thereby  lose  their  patronage  they  had  better 
be  more  careful  about  admitting  such  articles 
to  their  columns. 

It  is  undoubtedly  because  Catholics  so  tamely 
submit  to  the  frequent  anti-Catholic  attacks  of 
the  daily  press  that  the  managers  take  for 
granted  that  either  their  invidious  assertions 
can  not  be  contradicted,  or,  if  they  can,  that 
Catholics  do  not  care  enough  about  it  to  make 
any  protest. 

Where  is  the  very  respectable  and  somewhat 
numerous  Catholic  Truth  Committee  of  the 
Catholic  Union ;  or  the  Committee  of  the  Cath- 
olic Alumni  Sodality;  or  where  are  the  intelli- 
gent professional  and  business  men  of  Boston 
and  vicinity  who  might  well  be  supposed  to  take 
sufficient  unofficial  interest  in  defending  the 
Church  of  their  preference— if  not  of  their  af- 


WINCHESTER  349 

fections — from  the  aspersions  of  ignorant  and 
bigoted  penny-a-liners,  to  prompt  them  to  take 
their  pen  in  hand  for  an  earnest  protest  when- 
ever occasion  presents  itself?  Eev.  Dr.  Tracy 
has  set  us  a  very  good  example  in  his  recent 
letter  to  the  Herald.  It  is  not  always  neces- 
sary to  have  his  learning  and  ability,  for  as  a 
general  rule  it  is  not  so  much  discussion  as 
simple  protest  and  expostulation  that  is  needed. 
Suppose  we  all  resolve  to  turn  over  a  new  leaf 
in  this  matter  and  see  what  will  come  of  it. 

The  ''kicker"  has  a  very  important  place  in 
society.  Up  to  this  time  we  Catholics  have  been 
satisfied  with  being  kicked.  Now  let  us  do  a 
little  kicking  ourselves. 

X.  Y.  Z. 

At  one  time,  when  the  works  of  Ernest  Kenan 
were  attracting  renewed  attention  from  the 
public,  Mr.  Richards  conceived  it  to  be  his  duty, 
as  a  Catholic  writer,  to  make  himself  familiar 
with  the  noted  rationalist's  works,  ad  refutan- 
dum.  The  result  of  his  study  was  a  supreme 
contempt  for  the  methods  and  arguments  of 
that  brilliant  writer.  Stripped  of  its  imagina- 
tive and  literary  adornments,  Mr.  Richards  con- 
sidered his  work  puerile  in  the  extreme. 
Renan's  theory  of  the  self-deception  of  the  wit- 
nesses to  the  gospel  narrative  and  his  ingenious 
statement  of  what  he  considers  the  illusions  of 


350  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

Mary  Magdalene,  the  disciples  at  Emmaus  and 
the  Apostles,  as  to  the  identity  of  the  risen 
Saviour,  seemed  to  him  to  require  far  more 
faith  than  the  supernatural  facts  themselves. 

Allusion  has  been  made  above  to  Mr.  Rich- 
ards' correspondence.  This  constituted  one  of 
the  great  works  of  his  life.  His  letters  were  a 
powerful  instrument  in  that  zealous  apostolate 
which  he  was  always  quietly  carrying  on  for 
God  and  the  Church.  "Whenever  he  met  a  non- 
Catholic  who  seemed  to  have  some  glimmerings 
of  the  truth,  he  sought  occasion  to  write  him  and 
to  fan  the  spark  of  faith.  If  he  thought  some 
Catholic  to  be  in  danger  either  to  faith  or 
morals,  from  unfavorable  surroundings  or 
worldly  inclinations,  his  sympathy  and  zeal 
were  at  once  aroused,  and  he  endeavored  by 
frequent  and  friendly  letters  to  stimulate  him 
to  love  of  his  holy  religion  and  obedience  to  its 
precepts.  When  some  conversion,  especially  of 
a  former  minister,  was  announced,  he  would 
frequently  write,  without  any  previous  intro- 
duction, to  welcome  the  newcomer  into  the 
family  of  the  faithful.  He  knew  well  the  lone- 
liness and  desolation  that  is  apt  to  beset  such 
converts  while  they  are  cut  off  from  their  old 
associates  and  have  as  yet  made  no  ties  in  their 
new  home,  and  he  had  himself  experienced  the 
strengthening  effect  of  a  kind  and  brotherly 
word  of  welcome.     These  advances  were  always 


WINCHESTER  351 

most  gratefully  received.  To  those  in  suffer- 
ing, sorrow  and  trials,  liis  letters  brought  con- 
solation, strength  and  spiritual  instruction. 
Indeed,  he  seemed  endowed  with  an  especial 
power  as  a  consoler,  due,  perhaps,  not  only 
to  his  lively  faith  and  loving  trust  in  God, 
but  also  to  his  own  experience  in  severe  men- 
tal trials.  Among  his  correspondents  were 
persons  in  all  classes  of  society,  rich  and  poor, 
cultivated  and  unlearned,  old  and  young;  and 
to  all  without  distinction  he  gave  the  same 
careful  attention  and  ready  sympathy.  To 
some  poor  boy  or  girl  who  had  come  under 
his  notice  in  his  charitable  work  for  the 
city,  he  would  write  with  the  same  punct- 
uality and  fullness  of  sympathy  as  to  the 
most  fashionable  lady  seeking  his  spiritual  aid. 
His  tone  to  the  one  was  as  courteous  and  free 
from  any  trace  of  superiority  or  patronage  as 
to  the  other.  What  he  saw  chiefly  in  every  man 
was  the  human  soul.  If  any  good  could  be  done 
to  a  soul,  no  amount  of  labor  or  trouble  was 
too  much  or  seemed  to  weigh  at  all  in  his  con- 
sideration. The  following  extracts  may  serve 
to  give  some  idea  of  this  side  of  his  life  and 
work. 

He  writes  to  his  friend,  Chevalier  J.  V. 
Hickey  of  New  York,  on  the  occasion  of  an  ac- 
cident by  which  a  son  of  Mr.  Hickey  had  lost  a 
hand : — 


352  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

"AYiNCHESTEK,  Nov.  8/84. 
^'Dear  Mr.  Hickey: 

*'I  can  not  tell  you  how  deeply  I  sympathize 
with  you  and  yours  in  the  affliction  that  has  so 
suddenly  fallen  upon  you.    It  is  poor  consola- 
tion, perhaps,  that  it  might  have  been  worse, 
but  it  is  not  poor  consolation  to  the  Christian 
to  reflect  that  our  kind  Heavenly  Father  per- 
mitted it  for  His  own  wise  purposes  which  we 
can  not  now  comprehend.    It  is  not  poor  con- 
solation to  think  that  perhaps  the  salvation  of 
the  child  may  depend  upon  that  accident  and 
that  it  may  be  the  occasion  of  his  doing  more 
good  in  his  generation  than  he  otherwise  would 
have  done.    You  do  not  tell  me  which  arm  it 
was  that  Val  will  have  to  dispense  with,  but  it 
may  be  well  for  the  little  fellow  to  reflect  that 
one  arm  is  better  than  none  and  that  many  a 
man  has  done  great  things  even  with  a  left 
hand.     I  have  known  some  soldiers  who  wrote 
a  splendid  hand  with  the  sinistra  manu.    He 
can't   expect   to   make    a   first   class   baseball 
player,  but  with  my  experience  with  my  own 
boys,  two  of  them  having  been  maimed  by  the 
rough  game,  I  should  not  consider  that  a  great 
loss.     There  are  compensations  in  nature  and 
in  Providence.    I  should  not  at  all  wonder  if 
Val  should  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  dis- 
tinguished father,  and  as  the  loss  of  a  limb  does 
not  affect  the  mind,  he  may  be  able  to  cope  even 


WINCHESTER  353 

single  handed  with  him.  Let  the  young  man 
remember  that  it  is  the  intellect  and  the  moral 
character,  especially  the  latter,  that  make  the 
man.  If  a  blind  man  conld  be  an  efficient  head 
of  the  Post  Office  Department  of  England,  and 
another  a  splendid  surveyor,  what  can  not  a 
man  with  one  arm  and  two  eyes  do  ? 

"We  have  reason  to  congratulate  ourselves 
that  such  good  progress  has  been  made  in  secur- 
ing our  rights  in  the  public  institutions  of  the 
country.  Let  us  take  courage  from  the  past 
to  fight  on  till  the  last  vestige  of  bigotry  is  ban- 
ished from  the  last  institution  in  the  land.  .  .  . 
In  addition  to  my  daily  remembrance  of  you  and 
yours  in  my  poor  prayers,  my  o^vn  feelings 
prompt  me  to  make  special  intercession  that  the 
trial  of  our  dear  Val  may  be  blessed  to  him  and 
to  his  parents.  I  shall  hope  to  have  the  pleas- 
ure of  seeing  him  some  day  and  shaking  his 
bereaved  hand.  Give  him  my  sympathy  and 
love,  and  I  am, 

''Very  truly  and  sincerely  yours, 

''H.  L.  RiCHAEDS." 

The  following  is  to  the  sister  of  the  same 
gentleman,  on  his  death. 

''WiNCHESTEE,  Feb  24/89. 
"My  dear  Miss  Hickey: 

"I  have  just  learned  with  great  surprise  and 
real  grief  of  the  death  of  my  dear  friend,  your 


354  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

lorother.  I  expected  lie  would  write  the  notice 
of  my  death;  now  he  has  gone  before  and  I  am 
left  to  labor  on,  for  how  long  is  known  only  to 
Him  with  whom  are  the  issues  of  life  and  death. 
What  a  mysterious  Providence!  How  incom- 
prehensible !  Yet  it  is  all  right.  It  is  all  for 
the  best,  though  we  can  not  see  how.  My  deep- 
est sympathies  go  out  for  all  his  dear  family. 
I  know  well  what  a  terrible  trial  it  must  be  to 
you  all.  I  pray  God  with  all  my  heart  to  sus- 
tain, support  and  comfort  you  and  his  dear  wife 
and  children  under  this  sore  bereavement.  Let 
us  not  grieve  overmuch.  He  has  fought  a  good 
fight  and  has  gone  to  his  reward,  which  will  be 
great.  We  shall  in  due  time  follow  him,  who 
can  tell  how  soon?  What  a  motive  to  seek 
earnestly  to  lay  up  treasures  in  Heaven,  that 
we  may  be  prepared  to  meet  him  with  joy  and 
spend  a  happy  eternity  with  him  in  Paradise ! 

''I  have  been  confined  to  the  house  for  the  last 
week  with  a  severe  attack  of  lumbago  and  some- 
times fear  I  may  be  permanently  disabled. 
These  are  providential  monitions  of  the  uncer- 
tainty of  life,  to  which  I  do  well  to  take  heed. 

"We  shall  of  course  hear  in  due  time  what  ar- 
rangements have  been  made  for  carrying  .on 
the  work  from  which  your  brother  has  been  so 
unexpectedly  snatched  away.  I  shall  miss  him. 
I  owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  encourage- 
ment and  the  opportunity  he  has  given  me  of 


WINCHESTER  355 

doing  something  for  tlie  cause  of  God  and  Holy 
Church.  As  in  life  he  had  my  best  wishes  and 
prayers,  so  in  death  he  will  not  be  forgotten  by 
me.  His  name  will  simply  be  transferred  from 
my  list  of  living  'intentions'  to  that  of  the 
faithful  departed.    God  rest  his  soul !    Amen." 

A  lady,  a  convert  much  esteemed  by  Mr. 
Richards,  had  lost  a  child : — 

''Winchester,  May  19/99. 
"My  dear  Child: 

"No,  God  is  not  'so  far  away.'  He  has  come 
very  near  to  you.  AVhen  you  say,  'I  can  not 
bear  it, '  I  make  allowance  for  the  first  outbreak 
of  grief.  I  know  it  is  like  tearing  the  very  heart- 
strings, but  don't  say  you  can't  bear  it.  That 
seems  like  complaining  of  Providence.  If  in 
our  severest  afflictions  we  can  not  see  the  hand 
of  a  kind  and  tender  Father  and  most  merciful 
Saviour,  where  shall  we  go  for  consolation? 
Remember  what  the  Apostle  says  to  the  Hebrew 
disciples  (12-11)  'Now  all  chastisement  for  the 
present  seemeth,  indeed,  not  to  bring  with  it 
joy,  but  sorrow.  But  afterwards  it  will  yield, 
to  them  that  are  exercised  by  it,  the  most  peace- 
able fruits  of  justice.'  Dear  child,  can  you  not 
feel  that  God  knows  best  what  is  for  the  highest 
good  of  the  child  ?  God  made  the  child  and  gave 
it  to  you,  and  now  He  has  taken  it  away.     Can 


356  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

you  not  bring  j'ourself  to  say  with  holy  Job, — 
'The  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away, 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord'?  Think  that 
j'our  dear  child  has  been  taken  away  from  the 
evil  to  come  and  is  forever  safe  in  heaven. 
That,  certainly,  should  be  a  great  consolation 
to  you  and  it  will  be  when  the  paroxysm  of  a 
first  grief  has  subsided  and  you  have  had  time 
for  sober,  pious  reflection. 

*'Need  I  assure  you  that  you  have  the  sin- 
cerest  sympathy  and  most  fervent  prayers  of 
all  my  family?  God  bless  you,  my  dear  child, 
and  your  good  husband,  and  give  you  patience, 
resignation  and  consolation  under  your  severe 
affliction,  is  the  prayer  of  your  faithful  and  de- 
voted friend, 

"H.  L.  Richards.'' 

Occasionally  there  is  some  personal  reminis- 
cence of  interest,  as  in  the  following : 


it 


''Winchester,  Dec.  3,  1902. 
My  dear  M , 


"...  I  am  glad  the  Transcript  ^  is  such  a 
source  of  pleasure  to  you.  I  can  easily  imagine 
what  a  new  world  it  must  open  up  to  you.  Bel- 
lamy Storer,  the  father  of  the  present  Minister 
to  Austria,  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  Cincin- 
nati when  I  was  an  Episcopal  clergyman  in 

1 A  publication  for  the  blind. 


WINCHESTER  357 

Columbus,  0.  He  was  a  magnificent  man — a 
great  Episcopal  Churchman,  very  handsome 
and  high-toned,  and  we  were  very  proud  of  him. 
The  son  seems  to  be  a  real  chip  of  the  old 
block.  .  .  . 

''Your  devoted  friend, 

"  H.  L.  Richards.'' 

The  even  course  of  Mr.  Richards '  life  at  Win- 
chester was  varied  by  some  joyous  events  which 
may  be  brought  together  here,  although  occur- 
ring at  considerable  intervals  of  time. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  ordination  to  the 
priesthood  of  his  youngest  son.  His  reverence 
for  the  priestly  state  was  unbounded.  Had  he 
been  unmarried  when  entering  the  Church,  he 
would  undoubtedly  have  wished  to  take  Orders. 
Before  the  decision  of  Leo  XIH  settled  defi- 
nitely the  question  of  the  validity  of  Anglican 
Ordinations,  he  congratulated  himself  that  he 
might  possibly  be  a  true  priest.  Undoubtedly 
God  intended  him  to  remain  in  the  world  and 
in  family  life  in  order  that  he  might  be  an  ex- 
ample of  a  thoroughly  loyal,  supernatural  and 
zealous  layman.  But  when  his  son  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  he  felt  that  he  was  to  be  repre- 
sented in  the  holy  priesthood  by  one  who  would 
stand  in  his  place  and  do  the  work  that  was 
denied  to  himself.  During  the  winter  of  1884- 
1885,   Mr.  Richards,   then  nearly   seventy-one 


358  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

years  of  age,  passed  through  a  severe  illness. 
Convalescence  was  slow,  and  his  emaciated 
frame  and  feeble  step  gave  to  his  family  and 
friends  cause  to  apprehend  that  he  might  die 
before  the  fulfilment  of  his  ardent  wish  to  see 
his  son  a  priest.  By  the  kindness  of  Father 
Robert  Fulton,  then  Provincial,  the  ordination 
was  advanced  a  year.  Mr.  Eichards  and  his 
wife  journeyed  to  "Washington  and  thence  to 
the  Scholasticate  at  Woodstock,  in  company 
with  his  brother  AVilliam  and  the  latter 's  wife 
Helen,  and  daughter,  Miss  Janet  E.  Richards. 
There  they  enjoyed  the  hearty  hospitality  of 
the  Fathers  during  the  period  of  ordination. 
Mr.  Richards'  state  of  joy  and  consolation  dur- 
ing these  three  davs  was  intense.  Those  who 
saw  the  white-haired  veteran,  liuml)ly  serving 
his  son's  first  mass  in  the  chapel  of  the  Scholas- 
ticate, with  his  erect  figure,  noble  face  and  air 
of  rapt  devotion,  felt  that  he  had  reached  the 
climax  of  his  earthly  desires  and  that  he  was 
chanting  in  his  heart,  "Now  Thou  dost  dismiss 
Thy  servant,  0  Lord,  in  peace !"  In  fact,  how- 
ever, the  joy  of  the  ordination  seemed  to  give 
him  a  new  life.  From  that  time,  his  health  im- 
proved rapidly,  he  became  stouter  and  more 
florid  than  ever  before,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  in  his  ninetieth  year,  he  was  actually 
more  youthful  in  appearance  than  at  this  period 
eighteen   years   earlier.    Father   Fulton   used 


-A.WSlson  &  Co.Boston 


'Oyn/^ui/ 


WINCHESTER  359 

jokingly  to  say  that  Mr.  Richards  had  played  a 
trick  on  him ;  that  he  had  obtained  the  advance- 
ment of  ordination  on  the  plea  of  approaching 
death  and  then  had  the  audacity  to  get  well,  in 
violation  of  the  contract. 

Another  very  joyful  occasion  was  the  Golden 
Wedding,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  mar- 
riage. This  fell  on  May  1,  1892,  when  Mr. 
Richards  was  seventy-eight  j^ears  of  age  and  his 
wife  seventy-one.  Their  plan  was  to  celebrate 
it  very  quietly,  as  a  purely  family  festival,  and 
chiefly  with  religious  observance.  But  they 
were  both  too  much  loved  and  revered  by  all 
who  knew  them,  to  be  able  to  carry  out  entirely 
this  modest  programme.  On  the  day  of  the  an- 
niversary, Mass  was  celebrated  in  the  church  of 
Winchester  by  their  Jesuit  son,  who,  witli  the 
cordial  consent  of  his  Superiors,  had  come  on 
from  Georgetown  University  for  the  purpose. 
From  his  hands,  the  aged  father  and  mother  and 
the  other  sons  and  daughters  all  received  Holy 
Communion.  Though  the  mass  was  unan- 
nounced, many  friends  were  in  the  church  and 
some  joined  in  the  reception  of  Holy  Commun- 
ion. During  the  joyous  breakfast  that  fol- 
lowed, Dr.  Robinson,  then  Pastor  of  Chicopee, 
a  convert  and  an  old  friend  of  the  family,  ar- 
rived and  kissed  the  blushing  bride  on  the  fore- 
head, a  violation  of  clerical  decorum  which 
nevertheless  was  received  with  enthusiastic  ap- 


360  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

plause.  Mrs.  M ,  one  of  their  dearest  non- 
Catholic  friends,  appeared  with  fifty  exquisite 
roses  in  her  arms,  herself  more  beautiful  and 
charming  than  they.     Sprays  of  orange  blos- 

some  were  brought  by  Mrs.  Edward  S from 

her  own  tree,  carefully  tended  and  nurtured  in 
anticipation  of  the  event.  Visits  and  congratu- 
lations poured  in  throughout  the  day  from  all 
quarters  and  all  classes,  Catholic  and  non- 
Catholic,  rich  and  poor,  clergy  and  laity.  Late 
in  the  evening,  when  the  reception  was  over  and 
the  guests  had  departed,  the  venerable  bride- 
groom, drawing  his  bride  to  a  seat  beside  him, 
and  gathering  their  sons  and  daughters  around, 
essayed  to  read  them  an  unexpected  Sermon 
on  the  Golden  Wedding  which  he  had  secretly 
prepared.  Its  purport  was  chiefly  to  thank 
God  for  the  gift  of  the  true  Faith,  as  the  great- 
est blessing  of  the  fifty  years,  to  urge  his  chil- 
dren always  to  cherish  and  practice  that  faith 
in  its  fullness,  and  finally  to  express  a  tender 
and  ardent  gratitude  to  his  wife,  to  whose  stead- 
fast affection  and  holy  example  and  counsel,  he 
attributed  all  that  was  good  in  his  life  and  even 
all  hope  of  his  own  salvation.  At  this  point, 
his  voice  gave  way,  and  tears  and  sobs  of  emo- 
tion prevented  his  continuance.  The  eldest 
son,  Harry,  uttered  a  few  words  of  tender  affec- 
tion and  reverence,  and  with  warm  filial  em- 


WINCHESTER  361 

braces,  all  retired  and  the  Golden  Wedding  was 
over. 

In  spite  of  advancing  age,  Mr.  Eichards  con- 
tinued to  show  all  the  fire  and  vigor  of  youth. 
His  duties  under  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor 
and  his  self-imposed  tasks  of  writing,  were 
fulfilled  with  the  same  fidelity  and  energy.  He 
took  part  regularly  in  the  Nocturnal  Adoration 
at  the  Cathedral  under  the  direction  of  his 
friend,  Dr.  Thomas  Dwight,  a  convert  no 
less  devout  than  himself.  Wlien  the  Alumni 
Sodality  was  established  at  Boston  College 
in  1899,  he  attended  their  meetings  regularly, 
going  in  from  Winchester  escorted  by  his  sec- 
ond son,  William,  who  had  proved  to  be  the 
main  staff  and  support  of  his  old  age. 

Eight  years  after  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  wedding,  the  golden  bond  was  rudely  broken 
by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Richards.  After  a  short 
illness  from  the  prevailing  epidemic  of  the 
grippe,  she  was  stricken  with  apoplexy.  The 
family  circle  had  remained  unbroken  for  more 
than  forty  years;  and  when  the  Mother  was 
found  to  be  paralyzed  and  speechless,  conster- 
nation ensued.  By  the  aid  of  a  good  Catholic 
nurse,  the  priest  was  called  and  all  preparations 
made  for  the  sacraments.  To  the  joy  of  her 
husband  and  children,  the  invalid  recovered 
consciousness  sufficiently  to  make  her  confes- 
sion and  receive  Extreme  Unction,  when  she  re- 


362  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

lapsed  into  a  semi-comatose  condition,  in  wliich 
she  remained  until  her  gentle  spirit  passed 
away  a  few  hours  later.  Her  life  of  earnest, 
unobtrusive  piety  had  been  a  perpetual  prepara- 
tion for  death,  and  her  frequent  and  fervent 
communions  constituted  no  doubt  a  viaticum  by 
anticipation  for  that  last  journey  when,  through 
her  inability  to  swallow,  the  Bread  of  Angels 
was  denied  to  her.  The  likeness  of  her  spirit 
to  that  of  her  husband  was  shown  in  the  fact 
that  her  last  conversation,  on  the  evening  pre- 
ceding the  final  stroke,  was  a  consultation  with 
her  second  son  William,  as  she  lay  on  her  sick 
bed,  concerning  the  relief  of  a  poor  family  in 
Winchester,  an  act  of  charity  which  was  to  re- 
main a  secret  between  them.  When  morning 
came,  she  asked,  in  scarcely  articulate  tones, 
what  was  the  intention  of  the  Sacred  Pleart 
leaflet  for  that  day.  AVhen  told,  she  mur- 
mured an  aspiration  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  and 
these  were  her  last  words  before  the  great 
change  that  showed  the  end  was  at  hand. 

Cvnthia  Richards,  from  the  time  of  her  con- 
version,  was  a  most  intelligent  and  devoted 
Catholic.  Before  coming  into  the  Church,  she 
had  made  a  prolonged  and  careful  study  of  its 
doctrines  and  practices,  and  had  observed  the 
effect  of  both  upon  her  husband's  character. 
Throughout  life,  in  spite  of  her  household 
duties  and  social  engagements,  she  kept  up  a 


WINCHESTER  363 

habit  of  wide  and  diligent  reading,  and  very 
little  in  current  Catholic  literature  escaped  her 
eye.  She  was  moreover  possessed  of  a  direct, 
feminine  logic  and  a  sure  Catholic  instinct. 
She  was  as  fond  of  all  Catholic  devotions  and 
as  much  at  home  in  them  as  though  she  had 
never  been  for  a  day  outside  the  fold  of  the 
Church.  As  she  advanced  in  age,  she  not  only 
increased  in  wisdom  and  devotion  (more  gentle 
and  motherly  and  unselfish  she  could  not  pos- 
sibly become),  but  she  also  grew  strikingly 
beautiful.  Her  face  filled  out  with  more  softly 
rounded  outlines,  a  faint  flush  mantled  in  her 
cheeks  and  gave  new  life  to  her  fine  and  delicate 
complexion,  and  through  her  refined  features 
shone  more  clearly  than  ever  the  serious, 
kindly,  faithful  spirit  that  ruled  her  life.  The 
spiritual  soul,  through  years  of  patient  and 
loyal  striving,  had  moulded  the  bodily  frame  to 
its  own  likeness. 

Her  husband's  love  for  her  had  never  grown 
cold.  The  tenderness  and  warmth  of  his  affec- 
tion rivaled  that  of  the  most  ardent  lover. 
When  separated  by  the  absence  of  either  from 
home,  he  wrote  her  every  day,  and  he  could 
scarcely  bear  her  absence  from  his  side  for 
even  a  few  days.  His  letters  written  in  old 
age  begin  with  the  most  endearing  titles,  and 
are  more  replete  with  expressions  of  tender 
affection  than  his  love  letters  before  their  mar- 


364  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

riage.     Sometimes,    in    cliildlike    fashion,    he 
makes  with  his  pen  a  circular  scroll  enclosing 
the  word  "kiss."    No  cloud  had  ever  come  be- 
tween them.    Even  those  who  knew  them  most 
intimately  never  heard  a  sharp  or  angry  word 
from  either  to  the  other.    Mrs.  Eichards'  love 
for  her  husband  was  mingled  with  deep  rever- 
ence, almost  religious  veneration,  for  his  char- 
acter and  virtues.    Yet  she  was  not  blind  to 
his  faults ;  and  it  was  her  quiet,  loving  influence 
and  wise   counsel   that   moderated  his   ardor, 
softened   his    otherwise    somewhat   rigid    and 
rugged  character,  and  helped  him  greatly  to- 
ward that  perfection  of  Catholic  manhood  to 
which  he  actually  attained.     The  shock  of  her 
death  was  naturally  a  crushing  blow  to  her  hus- 
band's loving  heart.     His   supernatural   faith 
and  habitual  resignation  to  God's  will  did  not 
desert  him;  but  his  physical  frame  could  not 
endure  the  burden.    Four  days  after  his  wife's 
death,  he  was  taken  with  one  of  those  acces- 
sions of  nervous  depression  and  desolation  of 
soul  which  had  affected  him  so  mysteriously  at 
several  preceding  periods  of  his  life.    Those 
around  him  had  only  glimpses  of  the  mental 
agony  that  he  endured;  but  that  was  sufficient 
to  fill  them  with  distress.    Yet  his  faith  never 
wavered ;  and  not  only  his  essential  love  of  God, 
but  his  zeal  for  His  service  and  for  the  spread 
of  the  Church  continued  to  glow  as  brightly  as 


WINCHESTER  365 

ever.  Unable  to  read  liimself,  he  had  Catholic 
publications  read  to  him  by  other  members  of 
the  family.  He  rejoiced  intensely,  in  the  midst 
of  his  own  misery,  at  every  evidence  of  prog- 
ress and  success  in  any  part  of  the  universal 
Church.  To  any  one  who  spoke  to  him,  he  an- 
swered briefly,  with  a  kind  smile  and  an  effort 
at  cheerfulness;  but  relapsed  immediately  into 
a  sad  silence.  Once  during  this  period,  which 
lasted  five  months,  he  was  cheered  by  a  visit 
from  Father  Fidelis  (Dr.  James  Kent  Stone) 
whom  he  loved  as  a  son.  When  his  children 
lamented  to  Father  Fidelis  the  heavy  trial 
which  their  father  was  undergoing,  he  an- 
swered: ''Your  father  is  a  saint.  This  trial 
is  only  a  final  purification.  It  will  pass  away 
and  he  will  never  be  troubled  in  that  way 
again."  The  event  proved  the  good  religious 
to  be  a  true  prophet.  The  cloud  gradually 
lifted  from  Mr.  Richards'  mind,  and  from  that 
time  until  his  death,  nearly  three  years  later, 
he  enjoyed  peace  of  soul  and  his  accustomed 
fervent  devotion. 

The  year  1902  brought  the  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  former  minister's  reception  into  the 
Church.  It  occurred  on  the  feast  of  the  Con- 
version of  St.  Paul,  January  25,  and  was  cele- 
brated very  quietly  but  with  intense  gratitude. 
Among  the  congratulations  that  poured  in  on 
that  occasion,  Mr.  Richards  appreciated  highly 


366  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

the  two  letters  sent  by  the  Novices  and  the 
Junior  Scholastics  of  the  Jesuit  Novitiate  of 
St.  Andrew-on-Hudson.  The  following  is  his 
answe^r  to  the  Novices  through  their  Manuduc- 
tor,  Henry  M.  Brock: 

"Black  Horse  Terrace,  Winchester, 

''Jan.  27,  1902. 

^'Dear  Father  Brock: 

''I  can  hardly  find  words  to  express  our  deep 
sense  of  gratitude  for  the  wealth  of  spiritual 
graces  procured  for  me  by  your  admirable  com- 
munity, even  the  novices  whom  you  represent 
offering  their  congratulations  and  fervent 
prayers  for  my  health  and  happiness  on  the 
occasion  of  the  jubilee  of  my  conversion.  I 
count  greatly  upon  the  first  fervor  of  the  young 
novices  who,  in  their  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  salvation  of  souls,  are  preparing  them- 
selves for  the  blessed  work  of  battling  with  the 
world  and  sin  and  building  up  Holy  Church  on 
earth. 

''You  speak  of  my  'courage  in  following  the 
Star  of  God's  grace.'  I  deserve  no  credit  on 
that  ground.  If  ever  there  was  a  conversion 
through  the  constraining  influence  of  the  grace 
of  God,  mine  was  emphatically  such.  I  shall 
never  cease  to  adore  the  infinite  patience  and 
long  suffering  forbearance  of  our  dear  good 
Lord  and  Savior  and  his  constraining  grace 


WINCHESTER  367 

which  I  may  well  say  dragged  me  into  the 
Church  in  spite  of  my  lack  of  courage  and  self- 
denial,  Deo  gratias!  It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
conceive  why  the  good  Lord  chose  our  dear  son 
to  serve  Him  in  the  holy  ministry  and  in  the 
illustrious  order  of  St.  Ignatius,  except  that  he 
had  the  advantage  of  a  saintly  mother,  who  I 
hope  is  now  in  heaven.  Certainly  it  was  no 
merit  of  mine. 

''Please  present  my  thanks  and  assurance  of 
deep  appreciation  of  the  kindness  and  charity 
of  your  confreres  and  be  assured  I  am  most 
truly  and  sincerely  as  gratefully, 

"Yours, 

''H.  L.  RiCHAKDS." 

The  jubilee  was  signalized  by  the  publication 
of  an  article,  afterward  reprinted  in  pamphlet 
form,  entitled.  Fifty  Years  in  the  Church. 
Twice  before  had  similar  articles  issued  from 
his  pen.  When  he  had  completed  his  thirtieth 
year  of  Catholic  life,  he  addressed,  through  the 
Catholic  Columhian,  a  letter  to  the  surviving 
members  of  his  former  congregation  of  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Columbus.  His  purpose  was  to 
counteract  the  fears  that  sometimes  harass 
those  who  are  drawn  toward  the  Catholic 
Church  lest,  after  entering  her  fold,  they  should 
be  disappointed  and  should  not  find  there  the 
peace,  the  certainty  of  truth,  and  the  spiritual 


368  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

assistance  and  sanctity  which  they  imagined  to 
reside  in  her.    He  wished  to  testify  to  his  old 
friends  and  to  the  Protestant  world  in  general 
that  he  had  found  the  Church  not  only  every- 
thing that  he  had  expected,  but  far  more,  and 
that  every  vear  only  served  to  increase  his  love 
for  the  Holy  jMother  of  the  Faithful  and  his 
gratitude  to  God  for  being  sheltered  within  her 
bosom.    He  made   an   earnest   appeal   to   his 
readers  to  consider  impartially  the  claims  of 
the  Catholic  Church  to  be  the  true  Church  of 
Christ  and  to  follow  courageously  the  light  re- 
ceived.    The  article  attracted  wide  attention, 
was  copied  by  Catholic  papers  even  as  far  as 
India,  and  was  circulated  as  a  pamphlet.    At 
the  completion  of  his  fortieth  year,  he  issued  a 
similar  appeal,  somewhat  varied  in  outline,  and 
the  same  was  done,  as  is  stated  above,  in  his 
jubilee  year.     The  Fifty  Years  booklet  has  re- 
cently been  reprinted  by  Herder.     At  least  one 
conversion  can  be  traced  directly  to  the  influ- 
ence of  one  of  these  little  pamphlets. 

Mr.  Richards'  younger  brother,  William,  to 
whom  he  was  tenderly  attached,  died  in  Wash- 
ington on  August  5,  1899.  He  had  lived  as  a 
consistent  and  devout  Catholic  and  met  death 
with  constancy  and  peace.  It  was  evident  that 
Henry's  long  probation  was  drawing  to  a  close 
and  the  ties  that  still  bound  him  to  earth  were 
being  severed. 


WINCHESTER  369 

At  the  end  of  January,  1901,  lie  resigned  his 
position  in  the  Bureau  of  Charities,  the  duties 
of  which  he  had  faithfully  fulfilled  up  to  the 
age  of  eighty-six  and  beyond.  But  the  leisure 
thus  gained  was  not  spent  in  inactivity.  He 
rejoiced  to  find  himself  free  to  devote  his  re- 
maining energies  unreservedly  to  his  writing 
and  other  labors  for  God  and  the  Church.  In 
this,  his  association  with  his  eldest  son  was  a 
great  joy  and  assistance.  Harry  had  never 
recovered  from  the  nervous  prostration  which 
had  forced  him  to  relinquish  his  work  on  the 
Sacred  Heart  Revieiv.  Compelled  to  remain  at 
home  and  unable,  as  a  general  rule,  to  apply 
himself  to  writing  for  any  considerable  time, 
he  yet  retained  all  his  keenness  of  intellect  and 
brilliancy  of  wit.  Every  article  was  discussed 
between  the  two  gray-haired  men  with  the  free- 
dom of  companions  and  the  earnestness  of 
apostles.  Harry's  cool  judgment  moderated 
the  ardor  of  his  father's  indignation  against 
the  malicious  attacks  on  the  Church  which  they 
were  called  upon  to  refute,  while  his  skill  as  a 
practiced  journalist  gave  a  command  of  re- 
strained and  temperate  expression  more  in- 
cisive and  effective  in  controversy  than  vehe- 
ment denunciation.  The  humble  docility  with 
which  the  older  man  finally  submitted  on  all 
occasions  to  the  criticisms  of  the  younger, 
though  sometimes  not  without  first  contending 


370  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

vigorously  for  his  own  view,  and  the  profound 
respect  and  affection  of  the  son,  were  equally 
beautiful  and  edifying  to  all  who  knew  them. 
The  following  letter  written  during  this  period, 
may  serve  to  illustrate  this  mutual  feeling: — 

''AsBURY  Park,  N.  J. 

''July  24/01. 
"My  dear  Father: 

'*Mary  will  be  surprised  and  Commie  will  be 
shocked  when  I  say  that  my  reason  for  not 
sending  you  a  birthday  letter  was  that  I  did  not 
know  your  birthday.  I  Imew  it  was  in  July, 
but  I  didn't  know  just  when.  Well,  men  are 
like  that,  and  I'll  wager  that  you  don't  know 
mine. 

But  it's  not  too  late  to  tell  you  that  I  love 
you  above  all  earthly  things,  and  that  I  admire 
and  venerate  you  so  greatly  that  it  seems  of 
no  use  at  all  to  try  to  tell  you  about  it.  Your 
humility  is  so  great  and  I  am  such  a  pragmatic, 
know-it-all  sort  of  pedagogue-prig  that  you  are 
in  the  habit  of  deferring  to  me  and  looking  to 
me  to  settle  questions  as  they  come  before  us, 
when  the  natural  and  proper  order  would  be 
just  the  reverse.  However,  these  things  are 
not  essential.  The  real  gist  of  the  matter  is 
that  we  love  each  other  with  a  complete  and  ab- 
solute confidence  that  nothing  can  shake.  I'm 
altogether  unworthy  and  undeserving  of  such 


WINCHESTER  371 

a  father,  but  I'm  not  going  to  qnarrel  with 
Providence  for  giving  him  to  me. 

"Faithfully,  your  son, 

"Haeky." 

The  three  years  that  were  thus  passed  be- 
fore Mr.  Richards'  death  were  like  the  sun- 
set glow  before  the  close  of  day.  His  char- 
acter, chastened  by  trials  and  more  and  more 
transfigTired  by  love  of  God  and  man,  revealed 
new  depths  of  beauty  and  tenderness.  He  lived 
in  heaven,  but  took  a  kindly  interest  in  the 
things  of  earth.  To  his  family  and  friends,  his 
bright,  cheerful  smile  and  serene  conversation 
were  a  constant  joy.  Those  who  had  recourse 
to  him  for  consolation  and  guidance  in  their 
troubles  found  still  the  same  ready  sympathy 
and  wise  counsel.  Having  been  constituted  the 
pajTuaster  for  the  family  expenditures,  he  had 
no  greater  delight  than  drawing  the  checks  for 
the  numerous  charities  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  which  he  had  always  contributed. 
To  his  youngest  daughter,  who,  on  account  of 
his  increasing  infirmities,  had  been  constituted 
a  kind  of  general  manager  and  admonitor,  he 
showed  an  obedience  quite  childlike  in  its 
simplicity.  In  addition  to  his  writing  for  the 
Sacred  Heart  Revieiv  and  other  Catholic  peri- 
odicals, a  large  share  of  his  time  was  devoted 
to  prayer  and  religious  reading.    Formal  medi- 


372  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

tation  was  not  easy  for  him ;  but  his  whole  day 
was  a  mental  prayer,  for  his  thoughts  turned 
naturally  to  God  and  heavenly  things.  Besides 
frequent  drives  in  the  beautiful  country  about 
Winchester,  his  chief  recreation  was  to  pace  up 
and  down  the  ample  porch  of  his  residence,  ros- 
ary in  hand.  Every  afternoon  he  boarded  the 
electric  car  and  went  to  the  church  at  Medford 
to  pay  a  visit  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  It  was 
evident  that  his  interest  in  everything  going  on 
around  him  did  not  take  his  mind  from  the 
constant  thought  of  another  world.  He  had 
always  appreciated  deeply  the  shortness  of  life 
and  had  often  spoken  of  the  necessity  of  being 
ever  prepared.  His  health,  always  precarious, 
had  led  him  to  exj^ect,  from  year  to  year,  the 
last  great  change.  Contrary  to  his  expecta- 
tions, he  had  passed  far  beyond  the  allotted 
span ;  and  he  now  looked  for  death  without  ap- 
prehension, as  for  the  coming  of  a  welcome 
friend.  The  first  positive  warning  was  a  slight 
attack  of  paralysis  of  the  brain  and  tongue. 
It  lasted  onlv  an  hour  or  two,  and  left  the 
patient  apparently  as  well  as  before.  He  made 
light  of  it  and  could  not  understand  the  alarm 
of  the  family.  But  repeated  returns  of  the 
same  symptoms  during  the  next  few  months 
confirmed  their  fears.  At  last  an  attack  so 
severe  and  prolonged  occurred  that  his  end 
seemed  to  be  at  hand.     The  pastor  was  hastily 


WINCHESTER  373 

summoned  and  the  Jesuit  son  telegraphed  for. 
But  when  the  latter  arrived,  immediate  danger 
had  passed  and  the  sick  man  laughed  merrily 
at  the  unceremonious  fashion  in  which  he  had 
been  compelled  to  make  his  confession  and  re- 
ceive the  other  sacraments  without  any  of  that 
careful  loreparation  which  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  think  necessary.  After  some  days,  as 
he  was  improving  steadily,  his  Jesuit  son  came 
to  take  leave  and  ask  his  farewell  blessing. 
The  old  man  placed  both  hands  on  his  son's 
head  and  said,  with  a  simple  solemnity: 
^'Benedicat  vos  omnipotens  Dcus,  Pater  et 
Filins  et  Spiritus  Sanctus!"  During  the  next 
two  months,  renewed  but  slight  attacks  fol- 
lowed. He  was  surrounded  by  all  the  care  that 
medical  skill,  devoted  nursing  and  the  most 
tender  and  solicitous  affection  could  render, 
while  he,  on  his  part,  kept  up  with  unfailing 
courage  and  fidelity,  not  only  his  religious  ex- 
ercises and  when  possible  his  labors,  but  also 
his  courteous  and  unselfish  consideration  for 
others  about  him.  His  eldest  daughter,  who 
had  been  devoted  in  reading  to  him,  having  been 
disabled  from  this  office  of  love  by  a  severe  ill- 
ness, a  professional  reader  was  employed  to 
take  her  place.  The  invalid  took  constant  care 
to  have  such  reading  selected  as  would  interest 
and  benefit  the  reader  as  well  as  himself. 
Peace,  serenity  and  tranquil  cheerfulness  char- 


374  A  LOYAL  LIFE 

acterized  his  looks  and  words  during  this  last 
period  of  his  earthly  trial.  Constant  prayer 
and  the  Holy  Viaticum,  received  as  often  as 
possible,  gave  him  spiritual  strength  and  joy. 
It  is  said  that  those  who  are  scrupulous  and 
fearful  during  life,  generally  have  a  peaceful 
and  joyous  death.  This  was  certainly  verified 
in  Mr.  Eichards'  case.  On  the  Thursday  be- 
fore the  First  Friday  of  November,  he  had 
suffered  a  slight  accession  of  paralysis,  affect- 
ing to  some  extent  his  riglit  arm  and  hand,  and 
had  expressed  his  apprehension  lest  he  should 
be  unal)le  to  write  again,  a  deprivation  which 
he  seemed  to  dread  more  than  any  other.  Yet 
he  spoke  placidly  and  with  entire  resignation 
to  God's  will.  The  next  morning,  he  recited  as 
usual  the  Little  Office  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in 
Latin,  with  the  aid  of  a  reading  glass,  while 
lying  in  bed.  Sometime  after  dressing,  he  was 
found  by  his  daughter,  lying  on  the  couch, 
speechless  but  fully  conscious.  He  stretched 
out  his  arms  toward  her  with  a  look  full  of 
sweetness  and  tenderness  that  said  more  plainly 
than  words,  *'It  has  come  at  last!'*  The  priest 
was  hastily  summoned,  and  as  the  dying  man 
received  Holy  Communion,  his  face  shone  like 
that  of  an  angel.  Gradually  he  sank  into  un- 
consciousness. Wlien  his  Jesuit  son  again  ar- 
rived, he  had  given  no  sign  of  intelligence  for 
nearly  twenty-four  hours.    Yet  at  the  words, 


WINCHESTER  375 

uttered  in  a  loud  voice :  ' '  Fatlier,  I  am  Havens ; 
I  want  to  give  you  absolution ! ",  lie  opened  Ms 
eyes  as  though  the  spirit  were  recalled  from 
the  confines  of  another  world ;  then  closed  them 
for  the  last  time  on  earth.  An  hour  or  two 
later,  he  passed  quietly  away,  while  his  children, 
kneeling  about  his  bed,  recited  the  prayers  of 
the  Church  that  he  loved  so  loyally  and  so  well. 
It  was  Sunday,  November  8,  1903.  On  his 
tombstone  are  inscribed  the  w^ords  of  his  patron, 
St.  Paul:— ''I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith." 


APPENDIX 

The  following  sermon,  preached  at  Gambler  at  the 
opening  of  the  fall  term  in  1849,  under  circum- 
stances detailed  on  page  228  of  this  work,  created  a 
violent  sensation  in  that  stronghold  of  Low  Church 
theology.  It  reveals  so  clearly  the  preacher's  con- 
ception of  the  Church  shortly  before  his  actual  con- 
version and  states  so  powerfully  the  grounds  of  his 
convictions,  that  it  has  been  judged  well  to  print  it 
here  in  full.  Its  phraseology  is  not  always  that  of 
Catholic  theologians,  and  in  regard  to  some  points,  as 
the  power  of  forgiving  sins,  he  falls  definitely  short 
of  Catholic  truth.  But  in  general  his  teaching, 
though  the  result  of  his  own  independent  study  of 
the  Christian  system,  seems  to  agree  substantially 
with  Catholic  doctrine  concerning  the  Church  as  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ. 

SERMON 

On  the  Organic  Nature  of  Christianity. 

1st  Corinthians  xv.  22. 

''For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  he 
made  alive." 

This  is  not,  as  many  seem  to  suppose,  a  declara- 
tion of  Universal  Salvation.  It  is  not  said,  you  see, 
that  all  shall  be  in  Christ  as  all  are  in  Adam.     Such 

377 


378  APPENDIX 

a  declaration  were  in  direct  conflict  with  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  New  Testament.  The  meaning  of  the 
passage,  evidently,  must  be,  that  as  all  who  are 
united  with  Adam  die,  so  all  who  are  united  with 
Christ  shall  be  made  alive.  That  is,  as  all  who  are 
united  with  Adam  in  the  material  way  die,  so  all 
who  are  united  with  Christ  in  the  supernatural  way 
shall  be  made  alive.  Adam  is  represented  as  the 
head  of  the  natural  race  of  mankind,  and  Christ  as 
the  head  of  the  new  spiritual  race;  and  the  asser- 
tion, it  seems  to  me,  is  e(iuivalent  to  this;  as  all  who 
are  born  of  the  race  of  Adam  do,  by  virtue  of  their 
organic  connection  with  him,  die ;  so  all  who  are 
new-born  of  the  new  spiritual  race  of  Christ  are,  by 
virtue  of  their  organic  connection  with  him,  made 
alive.  Observe,  if  you  please,  that  it  is  by  virtue 
of  what  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  term  an  "Or- 
ganic Connection"  in  both  cases,  that  the  effects  pred- 
icated of  each  are  said  to  follow.  We  know  not 
how  it  is  or  trhy  it  is  that  God  has  so  constructed  us 
that,  by  virtue  of  our  connection  with  Adam,  as  the 
original  of  our  race,  we  suffer  the  consequences  that 
were  inflicted  upon  him  because  of  his  sin.  We  only 
know  that  it  is  so.  This  is  the  fact.  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  an  organic  connection  that  binds  us  all  to 
our  head,  and  through  him  binds  us  together  in  one. 
We  are  one  race,  having  one  constitution,  one  origin, 
one  destiny.  Because  Adam  our  great  progenitor 
died,  we  all  die.  He  died  in  consequence  of  his  sin. 
And  so,  death  hath  passed  upon  all  men,  as  saith  the 
Apostle,  "For  that  all  have  sinned."  And  I  repeat: 
The  assertion  of  the  text  is,  that  there  is  a  corre- 


APPENDIX  379 

spending  organic  connection  between  Christ  and  the 
new  spiritual  race  of  which  he  is  the  Head,  by  virtue 
of  which  all  who  are  thus  united  to  Him  are  made 
alive.  This,  my  beloved  brethren,  is  a  very  impor- 
tant principle  of  the  gospel — one  that,  I  fear,  is  too 
much  overlooked  by  many  to  the  great  prejudice  of 
gospel  truth  and  the  detriment  of  the  best  interests 
of  the  Church  and  of  our  race.  Let  me  enlarge 
somewhat  upon  the  principle  as  it  is  evidently  set 
forth  in  Holy  Scripture,  that  I  may  if  possible  give 
you  a  clear  apprehension  of  it,  and  that  we  may  all 
be  led  to  appreciate  more  fully  the  bearing  of  the 
principle  upon  the  great  scheme  of  the  gospel  and 
feel  more  deeply  the  importance  of  realizing  and 
acting  upon  it  in  the  great  work  of  the  Christian 
life. 

Now  I  think  it  will  be  of  some  use  to  us  in 
endeavoring  to  get  clear  apprehensions  of  the  sub- 
ject to  observe  that  there  is  a  natural  life  and  there 
is  a  spiritual  life.  The  natural  life  is  that  with 
which  we  are  all  born  into  this  world.  Spiritual 
life  is  supernatural, — something  over  and  above  nat- 
ural,— something  added  to  it.  Natural  life  is  that 
which  fits  us  to  be  inhabitants  of  this  world.  Spirit- 
ual life  fits  us  to  enjoy  an  unseen  and  spiritual 
world.  Natural  life  is  that  with  which  Adam  was 
first  created.  But  contemporaneous  with  his  crea- 
tion he  was  endowed  also  with  the  spiritual  life. 
It  is  said.  "God  breathed  into  him  the  breath  of  life 
and  man  became  a  living  soul."  In  one  sense  the 
soul  itself  is  living.  It  lives  by  virtue  of  its  own 
inherent  nature — that  nature  with  which  God  en- 


380  APPENDIX 

dowed  it.  The  very  idea  of  spirit  involves  life. 
But  when  God  breathed  into  Adam,  he  became  a 
living  soul  in  another  and  higher  sense  than  that  of 
mere  natural  life.  He  was  not  merely  a  man,  but  a 
man  "made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God." 
God's  spirit  dwelt  in  him  and  imparted  to  him  a 
moral  character, — made  him  another  different  being 
from  what  he  would  have  been  but  for  this  indwell- 
ing of  the  spirit.  It  was  this  which  exalted  him 
above  the  mere  brute ;  which  elevated  him  in  the 
scale  of  being, — gave  him  a  twofold  character, 
sanctified  him,  made  him  pure,  holy,  perfect, — in  a 
word,  made  him  like  God,  and  therefore  capable  of 
enjoying  a  higher,  purer,  more  perfect  state  of  exist- 
ence here  and  the  full  fruition  of  God  in  Heaven 
hereafter.  "While  his  natural  constitution  as  a  man, 
endowed  with  all  the  qualities,  the  poAvers  and  facul- 
ties peculiar  to  a  human  being,  fitted  him  to  live  in 
and  enjoy  this  world,  the  indwelling  of  the  spirit 
of  God  opened  up  to  him  another  world,  taught  him 
to  look  beyond  this  visible,  tangible  scene  and  to  fix 
his  thoughts  and  affections  upon  the  unseen  and 
spiritual  and  to  live  vriih  reference  to  them.  And 
thus  he  may  be  said  to  have  lived  another  and  a 
higher  life  even  here,  and  that  life  was  a  spiritual 
life.  He  lived  and  moved  and  had  his  being  and  his 
happiness  in  God.  God  made  him  like  Himself,  and 
to  be  happy  only  in  Him.  And  hence,  it  was  the 
union  of  this  twofold  life, — this  life  of  nature  and 
life  of  the  spirit, — that  constituted  his  perfection  and 
his  supreme  happiness.  Now,  it  was  this  spiritual 
life  that  w^as  lost  by  the  fall  and  which  "brought 


APPENDIX  381 

death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woes."  Adam 
sinned  and  the  spirit  departed  from  him.  The  union 
between  his  soul  and  God  was  dissolved  and  he 
died; — died  spiritually,  at  least,  and,  as  it  was  the 
indwelling  of  the  spirit  that  preserved  and  perpetu- 
ated natural  life,  so  the  seeds  of  death  were  also 
sown  in  his  body  and  hence  the  curse  in  all  its  fear- 
fulness  and  extent  embraced  death  temporal,  death 
spiritual  and  death  eternal,  and  it  left  him  a  help- 
less, degenerate,  miserable  creature.  It  left  him  im- 
perfect and,  therefore,  not  sufficient  for  himself. 
He  was,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  deprived  of 
his  better  half,  a  poor  widowed  spirit,  left  all  alone 
in  weakness,  and  helplessness,  and  loneliness,  with 
none  to  comfort  him;  restless,  dissatisfied, — con- 
scious of  an  aching  void  within,  which  nothing 
earthly  could  fill,  and  seeking,  and  longing,  and  striv- 
ing in  endless  and  vain  endeavor  to  find  something, 
yea,  even  though  it  were  guilty  and  unlawful  pleas- 
ure, to  satiate  the  inordinate  craving  that  was  con- 
suming his  very  life.  And  now  the  great  question 
arises,  what  is  the  remedy  for  this  state  of  things? 
How  shall  man  be  delivered  from  this  dreadful  and 
unnatural  condition?  Blessed  be  God!  He  has 
answered  the  question,  and  answered  it  as  He  alone 
could  do.  It  is  obvious  at  first  sight  that,  to  restore 
man  to  his  primitive  condition,  you  must  restore  his 
spiritual  life,  and  for  the  restoration  of  that  life  you 
must  in  some  way  bring  about  a  reunion  between 
his  soul  and  God.  You  must  restore  to  him  that 
better  half  which  has  been  lost  by  the  fall.  The 
desecrated  Temple  must  be  reenshriued  by  the  in- 


382  APPENDIX 

dwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  is  the  object  of 
the  institution  of  the  gospel  and  the  Church.  "We 
can  very  easily  conceive  how  God  might  have  im- 
parted this  spiritual  life  to  mankind  as  individuals — 
unconditionally  and  without  the  intervention  of  any 
means  or  instrumentalities.  Indeed,  we  can  conceive 
the  possibility  of  God's  imparting  this  life  to  the 
world  without  the  necessity  of  the  mission  of  his 
Son,  Jesus  Christ,  But  He  has  not  done  it.  God 
acts  by  means  and  He  determined  in  redeeming  man 
from  the  thraldom  of  sin  to  employ  a  system  of 
means  which  in  His  infinite  wisdom  He  saw  best 
adapted  to  accomplish  the  end.  Man  is  a  free  and 
accountable  being  and  he  must  be  dealt  with  accord- 
ing to  his  character  and  the  circumstances  of  his 
condition.  The  problem  is  to  reunite  man  to  God 
and  restore  to  him  the  spiritual  life  which  he  had 
lost.  How  shall  it  be  done?  Why,  God  sends  His 
only  begotten  Son,  the  Eternal  Word,  the  Second 
Person  of  the  adorable  Trinity,  to  take  upon  Him 
our  nature  and  thus  to  bring  Divinity  down  to 
humanity  that  humanity  might  be  elevated  to  the 
Divinity.  He  was  perfect  man  as  well  as  perfect 
God  and  hence  in  iZiw  the  union  is  consummated. 
There,  in  that  Person,  is  humanity  restored  to  its 
primitive  purity  and  perfection.  There  is  the  spirit 
of  God  dwelling  in  man  and  restoring  to  humanity 
the  spiritual  life  which  had  been  lost.  But  the 
question  arises,  and  it  is  a  very  important  one,  how 
should  this  be  made  effectual  to  the  restoration  of 
the  race?  The  spirit  is  given  without  measure  to 
Christ,  but  how  shall  it  be  given  to  the  world  at 


APPENDIX  383 

large?  There,  in  that  illustrious  Personage,  is  a 
man  reunited  to  God  and  dwelling  in  Him  and 
having  life  in  Himself  and  having  it  abundantly, 
yea,  sufficient  for  the  whole  world.  But  how  shall 
this  life  be  imparted  to  others?  His  being  human 
does,  indeed,  adapt  Him  to  the  work  for  which  He 
has  been  sent.  He  is  a  man  and  He  knows  what  is 
in  man,  and  He  can  come  in  contact  with  him,  and 
exert  an  influence  over  him.  But  how  shall  He  so 
operate  upon  the  race  as  to  restore  that  lost  spiritual 
life  which  is  to  elevate  him  to  his  primitive  condition 
and  enable  him  to  fulfill  his  high  and  noble  destiny? 
Now  is  it  not  clear  at  this  stage  of  our  investigation 
that  there  must  be,  as  I  have  said,  some  organic 
connection  between  Christ  and  the  race  in  order  to 
the  transmission  of  that  life  which  he  has  come  to 
impart?  It  is  not  enough  that  He  is  man.  It  is 
not  enough  that  He  is  God  and  man  united,  and  that 
He  has,  in  His  own  person,  brought  Divinity  down 
to  humanity.  It  is  not  enough  that  He  mingles  with 
men  and  sympathizes  with  them  and  exerts  an  influ- 
ence over  them.  It  is  not  enough  that  He  preaches 
to  them  and  delivers  a  system  of  ethics  superior  to 
anything  that  the  world  has  ever  seen  before.  Nay, 
I  go  farther,  and  say  that  it  is  not  enough  that  He 
shall  die  for  them,  that  He  shall  pour  out  His 
heart's  blood  upon  the  cross  and  make  a  vicarious 
atonement  for  them.  All  these,  undoubtedly,  are 
important  and  essential  in  their  place.  But  these 
are  not  all  that  is  necessary.  Viewed  merely  as  an 
individual — as  a  man  however  perfect,  or  as  the 
God-Man — as  a  glorious  Personage  in  whom  Divin- 


384  APPENDIX 

ity  and  humanity  are  united — his  acts  can  be  of  no 
consequence  to  us  unless  there  is  some  organic  con- 
nection between  Him  and  the  race  hy  which  the 
benefits  which  he  came  to  bestow  can  be  made 
over, — transmitted  to  us.  It  is  not  enough  merely 
to  proclaim  the  facts  of  the  gospel.  All  experience 
confirms  the  constant  and  uniform  teaching  of  Holy 
Scripture,  that  it  is  folly  to  rely  upon  any  mere 
history  or  even  philosophy  of  Christianity.  There 
is  indeed  a  philosophy  of  life  as  it  has  been  termed, 
and  it  is  certain  that  the  only  true  philosophy  of  life 
is  embodied  in  the  Christian  system.  And  it  is  im- 
portant that  that  philosophy  should  be  studied  and 
understood  by  all.  But  the  philosophy  of  life  is  not 
the  life  itself;  nor  is  the  possession  of  the  life  neces- 
sarily connected  with  the  possession  of  the  philoso- 
phy of  life.  That  philosophy  may  be  understood 
even  in  its  profound  as  well  as  its  simple  teachings, 
by  one  who  has  never,  even  in  its  first  beginnings, 
experienced  the  life  itself.  It  is  really  quite  strange 
how  much  importance  is  by  many  attached  to  the 
mere  matter  of  preaching,  as  if  the  proclamation  of 
the  facts  and  philosophy  of  Christianity  were  all 
that  is  necessary  for  imparting  spiritual  life  to  the 
world.  It  is  not  so!  I  care  not  with  wiiat  zeal  or 
eloquence  or  impassioned  earnestness ; — I  care  not 
wdth  what  accumulation  of  impressive  accessories 
this  proclamation  be  attended ; — were  there  nothing 
more,  it  were  a  hopeless  task.  We  might  well  sit 
dowm  in  despair  and  hang  our  harps  on  the  willows. 
Do  not  misunderstand  me.     I  am  not  now  dispara- 


APPENDIX  385 

ging  preaching.  It  has  its  importance  in  the  Chris- 
tian scheme,  as  a  means  to  an  end.  And  it  is  not 
to  be  overlooked  or  underrated.  What  I  am  saying 
is  that  by  itself  and  disconnected  with  any  scheme, — 
separated  from  other  accessories, — divorced  from  a 
visible,  tangible  system  of  organized  union  with 
Clinst,  it  is  a  matter  of  very  little  consequence. 
There  must  be  something  corresponding  with  the 
organic  connection  that  exists  in  the  natural  race  and 
by  which  we  all  as  members  of  that  race  receive  our 
natural  life.  There  must  be  a  principle  of  continu- 
ity and  reproduction  by  which  we  become  Christians 
just  as  there  is  a  principle  of  continuity  and  repro- 
duction by  which  we  become  men.  And  this,  my 
beloved  brethren,  lets  us  somewhat  into  the  secret 
of  the  profound  mystery  of  the  Incarnation.  I  do 
not  mean  that  it  explains  the  mystery,  but  it  shows 
its  connection  with  the  System  of  Christianity  and  in 
some  measure  reveals  its  meaning — its  profound 
significance.  "We  see  it  is  not  merely  the  knowledge 
of  the  fact  of  the  union  of  the  human  and  divine  in 
the  person  of  Christ  that  is  of  so  much  importance. 
It  is  not  merely  the  fact  of  the  death  of  Christ  for 
the  sins  of  the  world.  It  is  not  any  nor  all  of  the 
facts  of  the  gospel  history,  in  themselves  considered. 
It  is  not  any  inference  from  those  facts,  any  system 
of  teaching  grounded  upon  them  that,  in  themselves, 
are  of  so  much  consequence  to  us.  It  is  something 
deeper  than  that.  This  Incarnation  brings  God 
down  to  man  and  brings  man  in  contact  with  God 
and  establishes  the  organic  connection  that  I  have 


386  APPENDIX 

been  speaking  of,  by  which  we  can  not  only  learn 
the  philosophy  of  life  but  become  partakers  of  that 
life  itself. 

By  the  divine  appointment,  Christ  was  consti- 
tuted the  organic  head  of  a  new  race,  that  is,  of  a 
spiritual  race,  and  in  order  to  become  partakers  of 
the  spiritual  life  which  he  imparted  we  must  come 
into  organic  connection  with  Him  in  the  way  which 
He  Himself  hath  appointed.  He  is  called  the 
''Second  Adam."  There  is  a  force  and  a  meaning  in 
the  expression  which,  I  fear,  is  not  generally  under- 
stood. What  else  can  be  inferred  from  it  but  that 
Christ  stands  in  a  similar  relation  to  those  who  are 
united  with  Him  that  Adam  does  to  those  who  are 
united  with  him?  That  is,  as  the  first  man,  Adam, 
was  the  organic  head  and  representative  of  the  nat- 
ural race,  through  whom  by  a  principle  of  continuity 
and  reproduction,  peculiar  to  itself,  we  all  receive 
our  natural  life;  so  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  is  the 
head  and  representative  of  the  new  spiritual  race 
through  whom,  by  a  corresponding  principle  of  con- 
tinuity and  reproduction,  peculiar  to  itself,  we  de- 
rive our  spiritual  life.  Natural  life  is  the  result  of 
natural  generation.  So  spiritual  life  is  the  result  of 
spiritual  regeneration,  and  as  natural  generation  is 
possible  only  by  virtue  of  an  organic  principle  which 
unites  the  race  to  its  head,  so  spiritual  regeneration 
is  ordinarily  possible  only  by  virtue  of  an  organic 
principle  which  unites  the  spiritual  race  to  its  spirit- 
ual head. 

But  it  is  a  very  serious  and  important  question: 
What  is  this  organic  connection?     In  deciding  this 


APPENDIX  387 

question,  we  appeal  at  once  to  Holy  Scripture.  "We 
may  form  plausible  theories  upon  the  subject  and 
endeavor  to  maintain  them  by  specious  reasoning 
and  ingenious  argumentation ;  but,  after  all,  it  must 
be  decided  as  a  matter  of  fact.  Let  us  then  go  to  the 
fountain  head.  Let  us  go  back  to  the  very  origin 
of  Christianity  and  take  our  stand  by  the  dis- 
tinguished Personage  who  claims  to  be  its  Author. 
His  labors  on  earth  are  now  nearly  completed. 
His  work  is  almost  done.  He  has  poured  out 
His  heart's  blood  upon  the  Cross  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world.  He  has  burst  the  bonds  of  death 
and  triumphed  over  the  grave.  For  forty  days  He 
has  mingled  with  His  few  chosen  friends,  with 
all  the  familiarity  of  the  most  friendly  and  endear- 
ing intimacy.  He  has  instructed  them  in  the  things 
that  pertain  to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  And  now  the 
time  of  His  departure  is  at  hand.  But,  before  He 
leaves  them,  there  is  one  more  important  step  to  be 
taken.  It  is  a  solemn  transaction,  for  it  has  a  most 
important  bearing  upon  the  work  which  He  has  come 
to  accomplish.  He  calls  around  Him  the  eleven 
chosen  disciples  and  after  a  few  words  of  explana- 
tion, doubtless,  adapted  to  their  circumstances.  He 
breathes  on  them  and  says  unto  them:  ''Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Ghost;  Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they 
are  remitted  unto  them,  and  whosesoever  sins  ye 
retain,  they  are  retained."  Now  this  is  a  most  ex- 
traordinary declaration.  "What  does  it  mean?  He 
breathed  on  them  and  said  unto  them,  ''Receive  ye 
the  Holy  Ghost!"  Is  it  a  mere  figure  or  is  it 
reality  ?     Admit,  if  you  please,  that  it  is  figure ;  still 


388  APPENDIX 

it  is  full  of  the  most  important  and  profoiind  spirit- 
ual significance.  For  the  least  that  can  be  said  of  it 
is  that  it  is  a  striking  ceremonial  indicating  the  com- 
munication of  power  and  authority  to  perform  the 
most  serious  and  important  acts.  But  it  is  not  mere 
figure.  It  is  not  a  mere  ceremonial,  however  strik- 
ing and  significant.  It  is  reality.  Doubtless,  there 
was  an  actual  communication  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  is  the  author  and  source  of  all  power  and 
authority  and  grace.  But  for  what  purpose  ?  Why, 
do  you  not  see?  The  God-]\Ian  is  about  to  leave  us 
and  lie  is  now  making  provision  for  the  communica- 
tion of  spiritual  life  to  the  world  after  He  has  gone. 
And  he  imparts  to  them  the  Spirit,  the  life  which 
he  has  in  Himself  that  it  may  be  imparted  by  and 
through  them  to  the  world.  Hence  he  adds  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  "Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit, 
they  are  remitted  unto  them,  and  whosesoever  sins 
ye  retain,  they  are  retained."  Man  in  his  natural 
state  is  sinful,  and  in  order  to  the  reception  of  spirit- 
ual life  his  sins  must  be  forgiven.  Hence  He  confers 
upon  these  chosen  ones  power  and  authority  to 
declare  and  pronounce  to  the  people,  being  penitent, 
the  absolution  and  remission  of  their  sins.  Here, 
then,  we  have  the  first  step — the  first  link  in  the 
chain  that  constitutes  the  organic  connection  which 
we  are  endeavoring  to  ascertain  and  to  trace. 
These  eleven  chosen  disciples  are  made,  if  I  may  so 
express  myself,  the  depositaries  of  the  spirit  and 
therefore  of  the  grace  and  spiritual  life  of  which  He 
is  the  Author,  and  they  are  commissioned  to  com- 
municate this  great  gift  to  others,  in  connection  with 


APPENDIX  389 

the  remission  of  sins.  Hence  it  is  that  the  Church 
in  her  office  of  ordination  directs  the  Bishop  to  lay 
his  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  candidate  and  say: 
"Receive  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  office  and  work  of 
a  Priest  in  the  Church  of  God  now  committed  to 
thee,  by  the  imposition  of  our  hands;  whose  sins 
thou  dost  forgive  they  are  forgiven  and  whose  sins 
thou  dost  retain  they  are  retained."  In  other 
words,  she  repeats  the  solemn  ceremonial  by  which 
the  Apostles  were  first  set  apart  for  the  work  to 
which  they  had  been  chosen,  the  ceremonial  which 
has  been  repeated  in  every  age  since  that  time  and  by 
which  a  constant,  regular  and  unbroken  succession 
of  ambassadors  has  been  kept  up.  And  thereby  she 
does  undoubtedly  give  her  sanction  to  the  solemn 
truth  that  the  gifts  and  graces  of  spiritual  life  which 
flow  from  the  great  fountain  of  the  Incarnation 
must  he  sought  in  the  channel  appointed  for  them 
to  flow  in.  But  the  transaction  of  which  I  am  speak- 
ing indicates,  as  I  have  said,  only  the  first  link  in  the 
chain.  That  the  Apostles  were  made  the  deposita- 
ries of  grace  with  the  commission  to  communicate  to 
others,  seems  clear.  But  how  shall  this  be  done? 
The  answer  to  this  question  will  indicate  the  second 
link,  and  that  answer  is  to  be  found  in  another  trans- 
action which  took  place  not  long  after  that  of 
which  I  am  speaking  and  which  was  not  less  solemn, 
impressive  and  significant.  He  is  now  on  the  point 
of  departure,  and  He  calls  the  disciples — the  same 
chosen  few — about  Him  and  says  unto  them:  ''All 
power  is  given  unto  Me  both  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.     Go  ye,  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all 


390  APPENDIX 

nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  adds: 
"Lo,  I  am  with  you  ahvays,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world."  Now  every  word  here  is  pregnant  with 
meaning.  "All  power  is  given  unto  Me  both  in 
heaven  and  on  earth."  "Why  this  solemn  declara- 
tion of  His  power?  "Why,  He  is  about  to  delegate 
power  and  authority  to  them.  He  is  to  leave  the 
world  Himself,  but  before  He  goes  He  must  appoint 
agents  and  ministers  to  act  in  His  stead;  and  these 
chosen  ones,  whom  He  has  prepared  by  a  long  course 
of  training  for  the  work,  are  now  to  be  appointed  to 
this  office.  It  was  as  if  He  had  said,  "Because  I 
have  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth,  therefore  I  dele- 
gate this  power  to  you.  I  appoint  you  as  my  repre- 
sentatives— my  vicegerents  on  earth.  You  are  to 
act  in  My  name  and  by  ]My  authority.  Whatsoever 
you  shall  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven 
and  whatsoever  you  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be 
loosed  in  heaven.  I  commission  you  not  only  to 
teach  in  My  name  but  also  to  constitute  a  society. 
I  do  now  constitute  you  into  a  society  and  give  you 
authority  to  rule  and  govern  it  as  well  as  to  make 
disciples  by  baptizing  in  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  I  promise 
to  be  with  you  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 
Here  then  is  the  second  link.  The  grace  of  forgive- 
ness and  spiritual  life — that  great  gift  with  which 
they  have  been  intrusted,  is  to  be  communicated 
through  the  medium  of  Baptism.  Hence  the  Catho- 
lic Church  in  all  the  world  has  ever  taught  her 
children  to  express  their  belief  in  "one  baptism  for 


APPENDIX  391 

the  forgiveness  of  sins."  Hence  St.  Peter,  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  when  the  multitude  were  pricked 
in  their  hearts  and  said,  "Men  and  brethren,  what 
shall  we  do?"  replied,  "Repent  and  be  baptized 
every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for 
the  remission  of  sin  and  ye  shall  receive  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Hence  Ananias  who  was  sent  for  the  in- 
struction of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  after  enlightening  him 
as  to  the  will  of  God  concerning  him,  adds,  "And 
now  why  tarriest  thou?  Arise  and  be  baptized  and 
wash  away  thy  sins."  Hence  the  Apostle  says,  "We 
are  saved  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renew- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  all  this  is  in  perfect 
accordance  with  the  declaration  of  Our  Lord  to 
Nicodemus,  ' '  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  except 
a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  he  can  not 
see  the  Kingdom  of  God";  and  on  the  occasion 
of  which  I  have  before  been  speaking,  "He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved  and  he  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  True,  we  must 
"believe."  All  who  have  come  to  years  of  discre- 
tion must  receive  the  truth  of  the  gospel  and  receive 
it  in  the  love  of  it.  But  it  is  not  belief  merely  that 
imparts  spiritual  life.  We  must  come  into  organic 
connection  with  Christ  the  Head.  The  life  of  Chris- 
tianity is  a  corporate  life.  We  can  conceive  how 
God  might  have  imparted  spiritual  life  to  individu- 
als, separately  and  independently.  He  might  have 
created  each  individual  anew  by  a  sovereign,  inde- 
pendent act  of  creative  power.  And  so  He  might 
have  created  the  race,  each  independently  of  all  the 
rest,  without  any  connection  with  the  race,  or  rather 


392  APPENDIX 

without  any  race  at  all,  properly  speaking.  But  as 
in  the  latter  case  He  chose  to  establish  a  principle 
of  continuity  and  reproduction  which,  after  the  first 
act  of  creative  power,  should  perpetuate  the  race 
itself,  so  in  the  former  case  He  has  chosen  to  provide 
means  bj'  which  children  shall  be  new-born  to  Him 
by  a  principle  of  continuity  and  reproduction  which 
makes  them  all  one,  binds  them  together  in  one  body 
and  through  that  body  to  the  one  Head,  even  Christ. 
This,  my  beloved  brethren,  is  the  design  of  the 
church.  It  is,  you  see,  a  visible,  organized  body  in 
which  the  new  spiritual  life  is  deposited  and  through 
which  it  is  to  be  perpetuated.  The  God-Man  has 
taken  it  into  union  with  Himself.  He  has  breathed 
upon  it  the  Divine  effluence.  The  Holy  Ghost  has 
taken  up  His  abode  in  it,  and  the  God-]\Ian  has 
promised  to  be  with  it  to  the  end  of  time.  And 
baptism  is  the  door  of  entrance  into  this  body — the 
divinely  appointed  instrument  through  which  union 
with  the  Body  is  to  take  place.  Sons  and  daughters 
are  to  be  born  to  God.  The  Church  is  the  "Bride" 
— the  "Lamb's  wife,"  the  mother  of  us  all,  and 
baptism  is,  as  the  Apostle  says,  the  "Bath  of  regen- 
eration." It  is  that  through  which  we  are  born  to 
God.  And  this  explains  what  the  Church  means  by 
"baptismal  regeneration."  You  see,  it  is  not,  as 
many  seem  to  suppose,  the  same  as  conversion.  She 
does  not  mean  that  in  baptism  an  adult  person  is 
necessarily  spiritually  renewed,  that  his  heart  is 
changed     and     his     affections     transformed.^     That 


*o^ 


1  The  statement  of  the  effects  of  baptism  would  have  been 
made  clearer  if  it  had  been  said  that  in  infants  who  are  in- 
capable of  placing  any  obstacle  in   the  way,  a   principle  of 


APPENDIX  393 

is  not  it.  But  she  does  teach  that  baptism  effects  a 
change  of  state.  That  is,  it  takes  a  man  out  of  a 
state  of  nature  and  places  him  in  a  state  of  grace, — 
out  of  the  world  and  places  him  in  the  Church,  that 
spiritual  society  in  which  Christ  Himself  dwells  and 
where  He  vouchsafes  all  the  blessings  of  His  grace  to 
every  humble,  penitent  and  believing  soul.  It 
brings  him  in  contact  with  those  channels  through 
which  the  Head  of  the  Body  has  Himself  appointed 
that  the  quickening  streams  of  spiritual  life  shall 
flow.  Hence  it  is  that  the  office  of  Baptism  teaches 
us  to  pray  to  Almighty  God  that  the  child  coming 
to  his  holy  baptism  ''may  receive  remission  of  sins 
by  spiritual  regeneration,"  and  after  it  has  been 
baptized  to  thank  Him  "that  it  hath  pleased  Him  to 
regenerate  this  child  by  His  Holy  Spirit,  to  receive 
him  as  His  own  child  by  adoption  and  to  incorporate 
Him  into  His  holy  Church."  Hence,  the  catechism 
teaches  the  child  to  say  that  in  baptism  he  was 
''made  a  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God  and  in- 
heritor of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven."  And  hence, 
too,  in  the  Communion  service,  after  we  have 
solemnly  offered  the  great  sacrifice  and  partaken 
of  the  victim,  and  thus  renewed  the  life  which  was 
imparted  in  baptism,  we  are  taught  to  render  most 
hearty  thanks  to  Almighty  God  "for  that  thou  dost 
vouchsafe  to  feed  us  who  have  duly  received  these 
holy  mysteries  with  the  spiritual  food  of  the  most 
precious  Body  and  Blood  of  thy   Son  our  Saviour 

new  spiritual  life  is  implanted  by  the  grace  of  God  which,  if 
properly  developed  and  corresponded  with,  when  the  child 
reaches  years  of  discretion,  will  result  in  the  sanctification 
and  salvation  of  the  soul. —  (Mr.  Richards'  note). 


394  APPENDIX 

Jesus  Christ  and  dost  assure  us  thereby  of  thy  favor 
and  goodness  towards  us  and  that  we  are  very  mem- 
bers incorporate  in  the  mystical  hody  of  thy  Son, 
which  is  the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people 
and  are  also  heirs  through  hope  of  thy  everlasting 
kingdom  by  the  merits  of  the  most  precious  death 
and  passion  of  thy  dear  Son." 

Here,  then,  my  beloved  brethren,  is  the  deep  spirit- 
ual significance  of  the  Church.  Here  is  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  profound  mystery  of  the  Incarnation. 
The  Church  is  the  Body  of  Christ.  It  is  not  a  mere 
human  organization.  It  is  not  a  ''voluntary  society 
for  religious  purposes."  It  is  not  a  mere  system  of 
externalism ;  a  visible,  outside  framework,  without 
spirit  or  meaning  or  life  or  power.  No,  it  is  the 
sacred  Body  of  Chnst.  He  dwells  in  it — dwells  in  it, 
not  figuratively,  not  symbolically,  not  hypothetically 
nor  constructively,  but  really.  He  dwells  in  it  in 
the  Person  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  His  promise  to  be 
with  it  was  not  figurative.  It  was  a  promise  of  real 
indwelling.  "I  go  away  and  come  again."  He  did 
go  away.  He  has  come  again  and  He  has  come  with 
power.  He  is  really  present  with  His  Church.  He 
is  in  it, — He  is  a  part  of  it.  We  can  not  come  in 
contact  w'ith  it  without  coming  in  contact  with  Him. 
That  contact  may  not  necessarily  impart  life.  To 
the  faithless  and  unbelieving,  the  hypocrite  and  self- 
deceived,  the  proud  and  self-dependent,  that  con- 
tact will  minister  cursing  rather  than  blessing.  The 
streams  of  life  which,  to  the  humble,  penitent,  be- 
lieving soul,  impart  health  and  refreshment,  to  these 
will  be  a  consuming  fire.     The  "Real  Presence,"  my 


APPENDIX  395 

beloved  brethren,  is  an  awful  and  yet  a  precious 
Truth.  Christ  is  with  us.  The  great  fact  of  the 
Incarnation  is  thus,  as  it  were,  perpetuated.  The 
God-Man  is  still  upon  earth.  "We  come  in  contact 
with  His  body.  The  Union  of  the  Human  and  the 
Divine  consummated  in  the  Person  of  Christ  is  still 
continued  among  us,  and  it  is  extended  to  the  race. 
''Say  not  in  thy  heart  who  shall  ascend  into  heaven, 
that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  from  above;  or  who 
shall  descend  into  the  deep,  that  is  to  bring  Christ  up 
from  beneath.  But  what  saith  the  Gospel?  The 
word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  and  in  thy  heart, 
that  is  the  word  of  Truth  which  we  preach."  The 
*'Word"  is  nigh  thee.  There  is  a  form  and  a  meaning 
in  the  expression  not  generally  appreciated.  The 
AVord !  That  is  not  merely  the  shadow,  the  shell,  the 
husk  of  Truth.  Not  the  philosophy  of  Truth.  But 
Truth  is  its  Divine  essence  and  living  power.  Truth 
as  it  exists  and  is  manifested  through  Him  who  has  de- 
clared emphatically,  ''/  am  The  Truth."  This  is 
nigh  thee  for  He  Himself  is  nigh  thee.  Yea,  when 
you  come  in  contact  with  His  body  and  fulfill  the  con- 
ditions which  He  requires ;  when  you  come  with  an 
humble,  worthy,  punctual  and  obedient  heart,  then 
He  visits  you  with  His  own  precious  Presence.  He 
imparts  to  you  the  streams  of  life,  the  waters  of 
salvation.  He,  Himself,  is  in  thee.  *'He  is  in  thy 
mouth  and  in  thy  heart."  He  dwells  in  you  and 
becomes  your  life.  You  feed  upon  Him.  You  eat 
His  flesh  and  drink  His  blood — "the  spiritual  food," 
as  the  Prayer  Book  has  it,  "of  the  most  precious 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,"  and  you,  thereby,  live  a 


396  APPENDIX 

new  life.  You  are  transformed  into  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God  in  wliich  Adam  was  first  made.  You 
walk  forth  in  newness  of  life,  redeemed  from  the 
bondage  and  thraldom  of  sin  to  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  children  of  God.  This,  my  beloved  brethren, 
is  the  profound  realism  of  the  Church.  //  it  is  not 
this,  it  is  nothing.  It  is  a  mere  sham,  and  Christian- 
ity itself  an  inexplicable  enigma.  If  the  Church  is 
not  this,  then  they  are  right  who  discard  it  except 
that  to  be  consistent  they  should  discard  the  whole 
of  Christianit}^  and  adopt  its  legitimate  opposite, 
absolute  individualism,  by  which  every  man  becomes 
his  own  Church,  his  own  Priest,  his  own  Pope  and  in- 
fallible guide,  and  at  last  his  own  Lord  and  God  and 
Master. 

Now,  there  is  a  word  or  two  of  caution  which,  to 
those  who  are  not  familiar  with  these  truths,  or  with 
this  mode  of  presenting  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  it 
may  be  necessary  to  allude  to.  And  in  the  first  place, 
remember  that  it  does  not  follow  because  the  Church 
is  the  body  of  Christ  and  the  depositary  of  spiritual 
life  therefore  no  one  can  be  partaker  of  this  life 
vmlcr  any  circu^nstanccs  without  union  with  this 
body.-  This  is  God's  ordinary  mode  of  dealing  with 
men.  This  is  what  is  declared  in  the  gospel.  The 
promise  of  the  "Covenant"  is  contained  in  the 
Church.  But  we  believe  that  the  mercy  of  God  may 
and  does  overflow  the  bounds  of  His  covenant.  If  a 
man  is  deprived  of  the  institutions  of  the  Church 
and  yet  honestly  and  conscientiously  does  his  duty 

2  The  preacher  here  fails  to  distinguish  clearly  between  the 
body  and  the  soul  of  the  Church,  and  thus  seems  to  contra- 
dict the  axiom  "Extra  ecclesiam  nulla  salus." 


APPENDIX  397 

according  to  his  circumstances,  we  can  not  believe 
God  will  be  so  hard  a  master  as  to  reject  him.  Nay, 
the  Apostle  declares  expressly  that  in  every  nation 
**he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness  is 
accepted  of  him,"  We  are  judged  according  to  our 
light  and  opportunities.  God  accepts  us  according 
to  that  we  have  and  not  according  to  that  we  have 
not.  It  is  impossible  for  us  in  any  particular  case 
to  define  the  limits  of  human  responsibility.  But  in 
proclaiming  the  gospel,  it  is  our  duty  to  proclaim  it 
as  God  has  given  it.  It  is  not  our  business  to 
preach  exceptions.  We  have  to  do  with  great  gen- 
eral principles.  We  must  declare  the  law  with  the 
same  strictness  as  if  there  were  no  exceptions  and 
we  must  declare  the  promises  as  if  circumscribed  by 
indispensjable  conditions. 

But  in  the  second  place,  remark,  if  you  please, 
that  it  does  not  follow  from  the  principles  laid  down 
in  this  discourse  that  mere  contact  with  the  Body  of 
Christ  will  necessarily  impart  spiritual  life. 

Here  follows  an  extempore  exhortation  to  the  hear- 
ers to  work  out  their  salvation  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling, to  avail  themselves  of  all  the  privileges  and 
graces  vouchsafed  in  the  Church  to  make  their  sal- 
vation sure. 


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